Latest news with #NassauOpenMRI
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Health
- Fox News
Never enter an MRI machine with any of these hazardous items, experts warn
Preparing for a successful MRI screening involves more than just lying still. Certain materials can interact with the strong magnetic field of an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine, so what you wear — or don't wear — is essential. A recent fatal incident in Westbury, New York, at Nassau Open MRI, involved a man being sucked into an MRI machine due to a heavy metal chain he wore around his neck. The man, 61, entered the room during his wife's scan. He was drawn into the machine by his necklace, which "resulted in a medical episode," according to a press release from the Nassau County Police Department. The man was transported to a local hospital on July 16 and died the next day due to his injuries, the release stated. Nassau Open MRI states on its website that anything metallic should be removed prior to entering the machine, including hearing aids, partial plates, dentures, jewelry and hair pins. Multiple practices and agencies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), warn that the "strong, static magnetic field" of an MRI machine will attract magnetic objects. Small items like keys and cellphones — as well as large, heavy items like oxygen tanks and floor buffers — may "cause damage to the scanner" or injure the patient or medical professionals if those objects "become projectiles," the FDA cautioned. Iowa Carver College of Medicine's Magnetic Resonance Research Facility published MRI safety guidelines, noting that the magnet is always on, and only cleared patients and professionals are permitted to enter. The following list of items should not be brought into an MRI screening, according to multiple experts and medical facilities. Florida-based Precision MRI Group warned on its website that patients should avoid clothing and wearables that include metal, as this interaction can cause "burns, malfunctions in the machine or compromised image quality." Loose-fitting cotton or linen clothing, pajamas and nightgowns are all permissible attire for an MRI, according to the above source. Items like compression wear, tight-fitting spandex and clothing with metal embellishments should be avoided. "Some modern clothing brands incorporate metal fibers in their fabrics for anti-odor or antibacterial purposes," the group wrote. "While these innovations are helpful in daily life, they are dangerous in an MRI setting." ARA Diagnostic Imaging, a radiology practice with multiple locations in Texas, noted on its website that any implants or devices should be discussed with a doctor prior to an MRI. These include the medical devices and implants mentioned above, as well as others like artificial heart valves, ports, pumps, artificial limbs, metallic joint prostheses, metal pins, screws, plates, surgical staples, some IUDs and even shrapnel anywhere in the body. "Metallic objects in the body can have dangerous effects when placed in a magnetic field." Kenneth J. Perry, M.D., an emergency medicine attending physician in Charleston, South Carolina, reiterated in an interview with Fox News Digital the strength of MRI magnets, noting how hospital gowns, monitoring devices and even stretchers are free of metal around MRI machines. "People should remember to mention any implantable device to the MRI tech," he said. "Patients who have pacemakers should bring their pacemaker card with them, as it will have information about safety protocols to have an MRI." Perry added, "Nerve stimulators are also sometimes MRI-compatible and should have information cards that can be presented to the MRI tech." It's "very important to answer appropriately" when asked by an MRI tech if you're wearing jewelry or have piercings, the doctor advised. Patients should also leave their wallets out of the room, Perry noted, as many of them are magnetic. For more Health articles, visit "It can also be detrimental to your cards, as the magnet is strong enough to wipe the magnetic strip on the back of debit and credit cards," he cautioned. Fox News Digital reached out to Nassau Open MRI requesting comment.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Man dies after weight-training chain around neck pulls him into MRI machine
A man who wore a large weight-training chain around his neck and approached his wife while a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine scanned her knee at a clinic in New York died after the device forcefully pulled him, according to police and media reports. Keith McAllister, 61, was killed at the Nassau Open MRI clinic in Westbury, Long Island, after he accompanied his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, there on 16 July. Adrienne told the local outlet News 12 Long Island that an MRI machine there was scanning her knee when she called out to her husband, 'Keith, come help me up' from the table. The technician operating the machine – which looks like a long, narrow tube with openings on each end – then allowed Keith to walk in while he wore a nearly 20lb (9kg) metal chain that he used for weight training. Police in Nassau county, New York, said Keith was then sucked into the device by its potent magnetic force. He endured 'a medical episode' at that point which left him in critical condition at a hospital, and he was pronounced dead a day later, police said. Adrienne told News 12 that her late husband had suffered several heart attacks after the incident with the MRI machine and before his death. She recalled, through tears, 'seeing the machine snatch him and pull him into the machine'. She said she implored for the clinic to call for emergency help and, referring to the machine, to 'turn this damn thing off!' But eventually Keith 'went limp in my arms', Adrienne recounted. 'This is still pulsating in my brain.' A GoFundMe campaign since launched to support Adrienne purported that Keith 'was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine'. Adrienne told News 12 that she and her husband had previously been to Nassau Open MRI, and he had worn his weight-training chain there before. 'This was not the first time that guy [had] seen that chain,' Adrienne said to the station. 'They had a conversation about it before.' A person who picked up a phone call to Nassau Open MRI on Monday said the facility had no comment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates MRI safety and warns that scans with the technology can create a 'strong, static magnetic field' that poses physical hazards. The agency says that 'careful screening of people and objects entering the MRI environment is critical to ensure nothing enters the magnet area that may become a projectile' and dangerous to anyone nearby. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, meanwhile, cautions that MRI machines exerts 'very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels and other magnetizable objects' and have the strength 'to fling a wheelchair across the room'. McAllister was not the first person killed by an MRI machine in New York. In 2001, Michael Colombini, 6, died when an oxygen tank flew into an MRI chamber that he was in, having been pulled in by the machine at a medical center in Westchester county.
New York Post
5 hours ago
- Health
- New York Post
Man who died in freak MRI accident was jammed in machine for almost an hour, never told to remove 20-pound chain: family
The Long Island man killed in a freak MRI accident while wearing a massive 20-pound chain was led into the machine room by a forgetful technician and wound up attached to the machine for an hour before he could be released, his family claimed. Keith McAllister, 61, was fatally injured in the bizarre incident, which unfolded Wednesday afternoon inside Nassau Open MRI in Westbury while his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, was at the center to have an image of her knee taken. 3 Keith McAllister suffered multiple heart attacks and died after he was sucked into an MRI machine. Gofundme Advertisement '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,' daughter of Jones-McAllister, Samantha Bodden, wrote in a GoFundMe for burial costs. 3 McAllister was attached to the MRI machine for an hour before he was released. Brigitte Stelzer 'My mother and the tech tried for several minutes to release him before the police were called,' she wrote. Advertisement 'He was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine.' 3 McAllister's family said the Nassau Open MRI technician knew her husband was wearing the chain. Brigitte Stelzer Bodden added that McAllister was led into the room by an MRI technician who did not inform him to take off his chain. '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,' the statement said. Advertisement The strong magnetic field created by an MRI machine can cause metal objects to be pulled in with force. They can also heat up metal objects, potentially burning a patient. Jones-McAllister said her husband suffered several heart attacks as a result of the incident, which ultimately led to his death.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Woman having MRI scan describes horrifying moment her husband was killed when the machine pulled him in
The family of a man who was fatally sucked into an MRI machine while his wife was receiving treatment has described how the tragic incident unfolded. Adrienne Jones-McAllister was undergoing a routine knee scan when she asked a technician at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, Long Island, to fetch her husband from the waiting area. Keith McAllister, 61, entered the examination room to help his wife get back to her feet near the end of the scan. But instead, the machine's strong magnetic pull dragged McAllister's 20-pound weight-training chain in. Keith McAllister died after attempting to help his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, get out of an MRI machine (Supplied) Jones-McAllister said that she and a technician tried to pry McAllister away from the machine while she pleaded for someone to turn it off. 'I was saying 'turn off the machine, call 911, do something, turn this damn thing off!' Jones-McAllister told News 12 Long Island. 'He waved goodbye to me and his whole body went limp.' Jones-McAllister said that her husband died the day after the incident last Wednesday after suffering from a series of heart attacks, with the Nassau County Police Department earlier reporting that the man experienced a 'medical episode.' 'I haven't been able to sleep, I'm barely eating. I just can't believe...,' she said. 'I'm just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.' The incident took place last week at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury (Google Street View) McAllister's stepdaughter Samantha Bodden has set up a GoFundMe campaign page to help the family cover funeral costs. In the description of the fundraiser, which had raised more than $3,300 by Monday morning, Bodden said her mother and the technician 'tried for several minutes to release him' before calling the authorities. McAllister was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine, she added. Bodden insisted that, despite some reports, her stepfather was allowed to be in the room. 'Was it a freak accident - yes. However him being in that room wasn't unauthorized,' she said in a Facebook post a day after McAllister's death. The magnetic field from an MRI machine is reportedly enough to fling a wheelchair across the room (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) MRI machines are designed to find ailments in the body using powerful magnets. The magnetic field of an MRI scanner extends beyond the machine and exerts powerful forces on iron, some steels, and other magnetizable objects. It is even strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. In a post on Saturday, Bodden attempted to clear up why the hospital didn't 'just shut the machine off.' 'A MRI machine is a magnet. An extremely powerful magnet,' she began. 'Even after the machine is cut off for emergencies the magnet still holds a great force of power.' 'So yes, it was strong enough to suck him in which it did and left him that way for a very very long time. He definitely didn't deserve to go out like that [so much f***ing hate].' The Independent has contacted Nassau Open MRI for comment.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Man dies after weight-training chain around neck pulls him into MRI machine
A man who wore a large weight-training chain around his neck and approached his wife while a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine scanned her knee at a clinic in New York died after the device forcefully pulled him, according to police and media reports. Keith McAllister, 61, was killed at the Nassau Open MRI clinic in Westbury, Long Island, after he accompanied his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, there on 16 July. Adrienne told the local outlet News 12 Long Island that an MRI machine there was scanning her knee when she called out to her husband, 'Keith, come help me up' from the table. The technician operating the machine – which looks like a long, narrow tube with openings on each end – then allowed Keith to walk in while he donned a nearly 20lb (9kg) metal chain that he used for weight training. Police in Nassau county, New York, said Keith was then sucked into the device by its potent magnetic force. He endured 'a medical episode' at that point which left him in critical condition at a hospital, and he was pronounced dead a day later, police said. Adrienne told News 12 that her late husband had suffered several heart attacks after the incident with the MRI machine and before his death. She recalled, through tears, 'seeing the machine snatch him and pull him into the machine'. She said she implored for the clinic to call for emergency help and, referring to the machine, to 'turn this damn thing off!' But eventually Keith 'went limp in my arms,' Adrienne recounted. 'This is still pulsating in my brain.' Adrienne told News 12 that she and her husband had previously been to Nassau Open MRI, and he had worn his weight-training chain there before. 'This was not the first time that guy [had] seen that chain,' Adrienne said to the station. 'They had a conversation about it before.' A person who picked up a phone call to Nassau Open MRI on Monday said the facility had no comment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates MRI safety and warns that scans with the technology can create a 'strong, static magnetic field' that poses physical hazards. The agency says that 'careful screening of people and objects entering the MRI environment is critical to ensure nothing enters the magnet area that may become a projectile' and dangerous to anyone nearby. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, meanwhile, cautions that MRI machines exerts 'very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels and other magnetizable objects' and have the strength 'to fling a wheelchair across the room'. McAllister was not the first person killed by an MRI machine in New York. In 2001, Michael Colombini, 6, died when an oxygen tank flew into an MRI chamber that he was in, having been pulled in by the machine at a medical center in Westchester county. Solve the daily Crossword
