Weight-lifter killed after being sucked into MRI machine while wife underwent scan
The machine's strong magnetic force pulled him in by the 9kg metal weight-training chain around his neck, Nassau County police said.
His wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister said she had called out her husband's name to get him to help her off the table.
He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms
She told News 12 Long Island: 'I yelled out Keith's name, [shouting] Keith, come help me up. I saw the machine snatch him around and pull him into the machine. He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms.'
She said the technician helped her try to pull her husband off the machine, but it was impossible.
Her husband suffered a series of heart attacks after he was freed from the MRI machine before being pronounced dead.
Mrs Jones-McAllister said it was not the first time the couple had visited Nassau Open MRI on Long Island and the medical technician was aware of the chain.
'That was not the first time that guy has seen that chain. They had a conversation about it before,' she said.
Mr McAllister was taken to hospital with critical injuries after the incident but died the next day.
Police said the accident, which occurred last Wednesday, 'resulted in a medical episode' after an 'unauthorised' entrance into the medical examination.
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The magnetic fields of an MRI machine exert 'very powerful forces' on objects made of iron, some steels and other magnetic materials, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The forces are so strong they could fling a wheelchair across the room.
MRI machine magnets can also erase credit cards, destroy phones and shut down pacemakers.
The machines produce an image of a person's soft tissue that allow doctors to look for abnormalities, such as tumours or damage to internal organs.
MRI accidents are rare but can be fatal.
It was not the first New York death to result from an MRI machine. In 2001, a six-year-old child from Croton-on-Hudson was killed at the Westchester Medical Centre when an oxygen tank flew into the chamber, drawn in by the MRI's 10-tonne electromagnet.
In 2010, records filed in Westchester County revealed that the family settled a lawsuit for $2.9m.
MRI machines are designed to find ailments in the body using powerful magnets. The magnets create a magnetic field which is used in scanning bodies.
New York's Department of Health said it was reviewing the incident.
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The Journal
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