A 61-year-old man died after he was sucked into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine at a medical centre while he was wearing a heavy metal necklace.
The man, who has not been identified, entered a room at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, on New York’s Long Island, without permission as the MRI machine was running, Nassau County Police Department said.
A patient at the facility told local media her husband was the one who died. She said she had called him into the room after she had a scan on Wednesday.
Officials say the incident “resulted in a medical episode” and the man was taken to the hospital, where he died on Thursday. MRI machines use a strong magnetic field to produce detailed images.
Patients are typically asked to remove metal items and change out of their clothes before undergoing MRI scans or going near the machine.
“The male victim was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck causing him to be drawn into the machine, which resulted in a medical episode,” said Nassau County Police Department, which is investigating the incident.
Though police have not named the victim, Adrienne Jones-McAllister told local television station News 12 Long Island that it was her husband, Keith, who died.
“He waved goodbye to me and then his whole body went limp,” she said tearfully.
Ms Jones-McAllister told the outlet she was getting an MRI on her knee and asked her husband to come in to help her get up afterwards. She said he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training.
“At that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI,” she said.
Ms Jones-McAllister said the technician had tried to pull her husband away from the machine.
“I’m saying, ‘Could you turn off the machine?” she told the outlet. “Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'”
The BBC has contacted Nassau Open MRI for comment.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, MRI machines have magnetic fields that will attract magnetic objects of all sizes – keys, mobile phones and even oxygen tanks – which “may cause damage to the scanner or injury to the patient or medical professionals if those objects become projectiles”.
In 2001, a six-year-old boy died of a fractured skull at a New York City medical centre while undergoing an MRI exam after its powerful magnetic force propelled an oxygen tank across the room.
By BBC News
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