Latest news with #NassauOpenMRI
New York Post
6 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
Family of Long Island man killed in MRI machine mishap while wearing 20-pound chain poised to sue: ‘Ensure accountability'
The family of a Long Island man who was killed when he was violently yanked into an MRI machine by a 20-pound chain around his neck hired an attorney in a likely precursor to a lawsuit. Keith McAllister, 61, was sucked into the magnetic force of an MRI machine at Nassau Open MRI on July 16, later suffering three heart attacks and dying from his injuries. Michael Lauterborn, an attorney for McAllister's widow Adrienne Jones-McAllister, said the family is now seeking 'accountability' for the freak accident. Advertisement 3 Keith McAllister, 61, suffered multiple heart attacks after he was sucked into an MRI machine by his 20-pound metal chain. Facebook/Karim McAllister 3 The MRI machine could have pulled McAllister with enough force to snap his neck, an expert told The Post. Brigitte Stelzer 'This heartbreaking incident highlights the critical importance of safety protocols in medical imaging facilities,' Lauterborn, an attorney with Cheung & Laterborn, said in a statement. 'The family and our legal team are dedicated to assisting the appropriate authorities in their investigation and in efforts to ensure accountability and prevent similar tragedies in the future.' Advertisement The attorney said the family is 'devastated and seeking answers' and called for privacy as they await further information. 3 Nassau Open MRI has not responded to multiple requests for comment. Brigitte Stelzer Jones-McAllister told local news network News 12 Long Island that her husband had been let into the exam room by a technician to help her get back on her feet at the end of an appointment. Advertisement McAllister wore the massive necklace as part of his weight training, his wife told the outlet. Jones-McAllister said she and a technician had struggled to try to free McAllister from the machine for almost an hour. Nassau Open MRI has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
MRI scanner death: Daughter reveals desperate struggle to save dad sucked into machine
Keith McAllister, 61, died after being dragged in by his necklace after he answered his wife's request for help as she looked on in horror while the machine 'snatched him' The family of a man who died after being sucked into an MRI machine frantically tried to free him for almost an hour. Keith McAllister, 61, died after being pulled in wearing a 9kg weight-training chain around his neck while his wife was undergoing a scan. He suffered fatal injuries in the freak accident while his wife Adrienne Jones-McAllister's knee was being examined at Nassau Open MRI in Long Island, New York last week. She had called out to her husband for assistance before he was drawn into the machine due to the chain around his neck. The powerful magnetic force generated by the MRI scanner hauled Mr McAllister into the apparatus, resulting in what police described as a 'medical episode.' He was left in a critical condition and rushed to hospital. Ms Jones-McAllister said her husband suffered a series of heart attacks after being freed from the machine and he was later pronounced dead. His daughter Samantha Bodden has now revealed new details about what led to her father's death. In the GoFundMe page set up to support the family with burial costs, she wrote: "While my mother was laying on the table, the technician left the room to get her husband to help her off the table. He forgot to inform him to take the chain he was wearing from around his neck off when the magnet sucked him in. "My mother and the tech tried for several minutes to release him before the police were called. He was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine." She then clarified: "Several news stations are saying he wasn't authorized to be in the room when in fact he was because the technician went and brought him into the room." Paying tribute to her dad, she added: "Keith was a husband, a father, a stepfather, a grandfather, a brother, and an uncle. He was a friend to many. He was on a fixed income from social security and didn't have much. So at this time, my mother is asking for help with expenses to help bury him." Ms Jones-McAllister detailed how her husband entered the scanning room still wearing the heavy metal chain he regularly used for weight training. "I yelled out Keith's name, [shouting] Keith, come help me up," she said. "I saw the machine snatch him around and pull him into the machine," she said through tears. "He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms." MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, is a non-invasive medical imaging technique that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to produce detailed images of the body's internal structures. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering warns that the magnetic field generated by an MRI is strong enough to pull ferromagnetic objects with deadly force. "Very powerful forces are exerted on objects made of iron, some steels, and other magnetic materials," it says, noting the field can be 'strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room'. MRI-related accidents are rare but can prove fatal when they do occur and this is not the first such incident in New York. In 2001, six-year-old Michael Colombini was killed at the Westchester Medical Centre when an oxygen tank was pulled into an MRI chamber by the machine's 10-ton electromagnet.
New York Post
7 days ago
- Health
- New York Post
Expert outlines grim reality of MRI's dangers after man with 20-pound chain dies in machine mishap: ‘Snap his neck'
The Long Island man killed in a freak MRI accident stood no chance against the machine's magnetic field that pulled him in with enough force to 'snap his neck,' according to an expert in the field. A 20-pound chain that Kevin McAllister was wearing around his neck would have been yanked into the machine at Nassau Open MRI with 'hundreds of pounds' of force, Dr. Emanuel Kanal told the Post on Tuesday. 'Even if he was standing there holding the chain in his hands, the strongest weightlifter would not be able to prevent this kind of an accident from happening,' said Kanal, director of Magnetic Resonance Service at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. 3 Keith McAllister, 61, suffered multiple heart attacks after he was sucked into an MRI machine by his 20-pound metal chain. Facebook/Karim McAllister 'The problem is it's not a regular magnet, it's not a regular piece of iron. It's an unbelievably powerful magnet, and it's an unbelievably large piece of iron,' Kanal said, adding that the two factors resulted in 'hundreds of pounds of attraction in the direction of the magnet.' McAllister was pinned to the machine for over an hour by the massive exercise chain fitted with a padlock that he wore when he was allegedly led into the machine room by an MRI technician to help his wife who was having her knee examined, his family said. When he got 'within a few inches' of the machine, it could suddenly pull with 'such strength that it could have pulled sufficiently strongly to snap his neck,' Kanal said. 3 Family of McAllister claimed the 61-year-old was led into the machine room by a technician who did not tell the doting husband to remove his large metal chain. Brigitte Stelzer McAllister was pronounced dead at North Shore University Hospital the day after the bizarre accident with the cause being identified as three heart attacks, according to his family. '[D]epending on the status of his health, he may have had problems with cardiovascular disease before, and when the excitement happened, he could have had a heart attack just from the event itself,' Kanal stated. McAllister's wife described the haunting moments when her husband was breathing his last. 'His body went limp,' Adrienne Jones-McAllister told News 12 Long Island. 'He went limp in my arms and this is still pulsating in my brain,' she told the outlet through tears. Despite decades in the medical industry, Kanal said the bizarre manner of death is incredibly rare. 3 The MRI machine could have pulled McAllister with enough force to snap his neck, an expert told The Post. Brigitte Stelzer '[It's] extremely rare that someone dies because of an interaction with a strong magnetic field — probably fewer than a dozen times since MRI first became a diagnostic tool in the early 1980s,' the expert stated. His stepdaughter claimed the technician never warmed McAllister to take off the necklace that led to his demise. 'While my mother was laying on the table, the technician left the room to get her husband to help her off the table,' step-daughter Adrienne Jones-McAllister wrote in a GoFundMe. 'He forgot to inform him to take the chain he was wearing from around his neck off when the magnet sucked him in,' she wrote.
Newsweek
22-07-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Wife Speaks Out After Husband Killed by MRI Machine
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The wife of a man who was killed after being sucked into an MRI machine has described how the tragic moment is still "pulsating in her brain." Newsweek called Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, Long Island, where the incident took place, on Tuesday, but the clinic had not yet opened for the day at the time of the call. The clinic told other news outlets it has no comment on the incident. What To Know Adrienne Jones-McAllister was at Nassau Open MRI for an MRI for her knee on July 16 when the accident took place. She told News 12 Long Island that she asked the technician to get her husband, Keith McAllister, 61, as she needed help getting out of the MRI machine. She said that the technician brought him into the MRI room, and her husband was wearing a 20-pound chain that he used for weight training. Keith McAllister and a stock image of an MRI machine. Keith McAllister and a stock image of an MRI machine. GoFundMe/Getty Images Jones-McAllister said that as her husband approached the machine, he was sucked into it. She described the moment she saw the machine "snatch him" as she screamed for the technician to "turn this damn thing off!" Jones-McAllister said that her husband suffered several heart attacks before "his whole body went limp in my arms." "I haven't been able to sleep, I'm barely eating," the visibly emotional widow said. "I just can't believe– I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing." "I loved him so much," she said. Jones-McAllister said she and her husband had visited the clinic before and that he had worn the chain there previously. "That was not the first time that guy has seen that chain. They had a conversation about it before," she said about the technician. Patients are typically asked to remove metal items before going near MRI machines because they generate powerful magnetic fields that can attract metal objects. According to a GoFundMe page created by Jones-McAllister's daughter for funeral expenses, McAllister "was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain." It says that he died the following day. The fundraiser had passed $8,000 by early Tuesday. What People Are Saying The family's GoFundMe page says: "Keith was a husband, a father, a stepfather, a grandfather, a brother, and an uncle. He was a friend to many."
India Today
22-07-2025
- Health
- India Today
MRI machine kills man wearing 9 kg metal necklace in New York
A man has died after being pulled into an active MRI machine at a medical centre in Nassau, Long Island, New York, while wearing a heavy metal necklace. The tragic incident occurred when the man, identified by his wife as Keith, entered the MRI room while the machine was still running. According to the Nassau Police Department, Keith was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck when he was drawn into the powerful magnetic field of the scanner. The force caused what authorities described as a "medical episode", and he was later pronounced wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, told News 12 Long Island she had just completed an MRI scan on her knee and needed assistance getting up. She said she asked the technician to call in her husband for help."I yelled out Keith's name, 'Keith, Keith, come help me up,'" she said. According to her, he was wearing a 20-pound (9 kg) chain with a large lock used for weight training when he entered the room. "At that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI," McAllister recounted. "He waved goodbye to me and then his whole body went limp."She said both she and the technician tried to pry her husband away from the magnet. "I'm saying, 'Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'"McAllister also noted that this wasn't their first visit to the facility, nor was it the first time staff members had seen her husband's chain. She recalled a prior exchange with an employee who had previously commented on the chain, saying, "Oh, that's a big chain."The facility, Nassau Open MRI, has not issued a public comment. The investigation is 2018, an Indian man died after being pulled into an MRI machine while visiting a relative at a Mumbai hospital, police said at the Maru, 32, was dragged into the machine by its powerful magnetic force after entering the MRI room with an oxygen cylinder, according to a police statement, according to a report by The REASON BEHIND KEITH'S DEATHMRI machines use strong magnetic fields to produce detailed internal images of the body. Because of their intensity, they can turn metal objects into high-speed and anyone entering the MRI room are typically required to remove all metallic items, including jewellery, clothing with metal components, phones, and even US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long warned about the dangers posed by metal objects around MRI machines. Even small items such as keys or phones can become dangerous in a room that has the magnet will fly across the room to the scanner, to this large magnet, and will really hit anything in its way, Dr Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a radiologist, told CNN in 2011."So within radiology training, one learns very early that that's not OK, that you can't have external metal in the room, and you can't have metal in the patient," she said, adding "That could lead to a problem."- Ends
