A 61-year-old man died after being pulled into an MRI machine at a clinic in New York while wearing a metal weight-training chain around his neck, according to police and local reports.
Keith McAllister was at the Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, Long Island, on 16 July with his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, who was having an MRI scan of her knee. She called out for his help, and a technician allowed him to enter the room while still wearing the heavy chain.
Police said the powerful magnetic force of the scanner pulled McAllister into the machine. He suffered a medical episode and was taken to hospital in critical condition, where he died a day later. His wife said she saw the machine 'snatch him and pull him into the machine'.
Mrs Jones-McAllister told local media that she had previously visited the clinic with her husband, who had worn the chain before. She said staff had commented on it. A GoFundMe campaign stated that McAllister was attached to the machine for nearly an hour before the chain could be removed.
The clinic declined to comment. The US Food and Drug Administration warns that MRI machines create a strong magnetic field and require careful screening to prevent objects becoming dangerous projectiles.
