Horror MRI accidents from necklace error to sex toy 'dragged through body'

Daily Mirror

19-07-2025

The huge magnetic force of MRI machines has led to some devastating disasters, including a tragic incident involving a gun. We look at the worst accidents over the years
A man has tragically died after being sucked into an MRI machine in a terrible accident.
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Patients undergoing an MRI scan are asked to remove all piercings and jewelry as a safety precaution, as the machine generates strong magnetic fields. But a 61-year-old who didn't follow this advice sadly lost his life as a result.
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The nightmare unfolded on Wednesday at the Nassau Open MRI in Long Island, New York, police said.
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The man in his sixties was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck at the time of the incident, which caused him to be pulled into the machine. That resulted in a "medical episode," according to police. No other details were immediately provided, reports NBC news.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries but he sadly died the next day, less than 24 hours after the horror incident. It is not clear if the man was a patient at the MRI center at the time of the incident or why he entered the room.
Objects containing ferrous metals are pulled towards MRI machines and so must not be carried into the scan room. Following the freak accident, here The Mirror takes a look at other MRI nightmares.
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Sex toy horror
A woman was left with horrendous injuries after a sex toy she left inside her was dragged through her body during an MRI scan.
The 22-year-old had inserted the "butt plug" in her back passage before she went for the scan. But the item reacted dangerously with the scanner, causing it to be dragged from her rectum and up into her body.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners use powerful magnets to produce images of what is inside the body. The results of MRI scans are then used to help diagnose conditions and plan treatments. The woman who inserted the sex toy had believed it was made entirely out of silicone but it actually contained metal in its core.
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An image of the sex toy being dragged up through the body has circulated online and led to warnings about wearing metal objects during the scan.
A X user shared the picture and captioned the post: "Never wear a butt plug to your MRI appointment. My God." Although harmless to human tissue, the magnetic field an MRI generates is 30,000 times stronger than that of the earth, capable of accelerating an object to dozens of feet per second.
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Nurse's freak accident
It's not just patients who suffer from MRI scan malfunctions. At Redwood City Medical Center in Redwood, California, a nurse was crushed in a freak accident with an MRI machine.
According to the report, the MRI's magnetic force caused the bed to be "pulled uncontrollably" into the machine. Nurse Ainah Cervantes became pinned between the bed and the machine, suffering crushing injuries, according to KTVU.
"I was getting pushed by the bed," she said, according to a report obtained by the news channel.
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Gun horror
On January 16 2023, a man who took his mother to have an MRI scan ended up with a bullet in his abdomen when the magnets in the machine caused his gun to involuntarily discharge.
Leandro Mathias de Novaes accompanied his mother to the scan at the Laboratorio Cura in São Paulo, Brazil. The machine yanked had the weapon from his waistband, causing it to go off and shoor him. He wa rushed to the São Luiz Morumbi Hospital, where he hung on for weeks, before eventually succumbing to his injuries on February 6.
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He was rushed to the São Luiz Morumbi Hospital but sadly died weeks later on February 6. Following the accident, a spokesperson for Laboratorio Cura said: "Both the patient and his companion were properly instructed regarding the procedures for accessing the examination room and warned about the removal of any and all metallic objects."
The facility's PR added that both Novaes and his mother signed a form regarding the protocols, but that the lawyer failed to mention his weapon and entered the unit with it "by his own decision."
Sucked into scanner
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A man died after being sucked into an MRI machine while visiting a relative at a hospital. The incident occurred in Mumbai India, when Rajesh Maru, 32, was pulled towards the machine by its magnetic force after he entered the room carrying an oxygen cylinder, the city's police said in a statement.
The victim's uncle said Maru had been asked to carry the cylinder by the junior staff member who assured him the machine was switched off. "A doctor and another member of staff were arrested for causing death due to negligence," Mumbai police spokesman Deepak Deoraj told AFP. The man is sad to have died from inhaling liquid oxygen that leaked from the cylinder which was damaged after hitting the machine.
Fatal brain trauma
In 2001, a six-year-old cancer patient was tragically killed during a routine brain scan due to the 'missile' effect of MRIs.
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The boy died a month later from head injuries and brain trauma after being struck by a nearby oxygen tank due to the machine's massive magnet. Hospital officials say the oxygen tank was "introduced" into the exam room while the machine's magnet was on.
Hours of agony
Two hospital workers spent four hours pinned between a highly magnetic MRI machine and a metal oxygen tank.
The 4ft tank was pulled across the room by the machine at Tata Memorial Hospital in New Delhi, India, leaving porter Sunil Jadhav and technician Swami Ramaiah seriously injured. The 28-year-old porter was asked to fetch an oxygen mask but thought he was being asked to fetch a whole tank, the Mumbai Mirror reported.
The technician, 35, suffered punctured bladder and severe bleeding from his abdomen Normally the incident could have been over within seconds, but the machine's emergency shut-off switch failed to work, hospital authorities said.