Tragic: Weight-Training Chain Drags Man to Death in MRI Machine

A tragic accident occurred at a Long Island medical clinic when a 61-year-old man was fatally injured after entering an MRI room while wearing a heavy metal chain.

The incident took place at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York, on July 16, and resulted in the death of Keith McAllister, who had accompanied his wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, for her knee scan.

According to local authorities and media reports, the accident happened when Adrienne, who was undergoing an MRI scan, called out to her husband for assistance.

She was lying on the scanning table and asked, “Keith, come help me up,” prompting the MRI technician to allow Keith into the room.

Unbeknownst to the technician, or perhaps despite previous knowledge, Keith was wearing a 20-pound (9-kilogram) metal weight-training chain around his neck, a routine part of his fitness gear.

The MRI machine, which generates a powerful magnetic field during operation, immediately reacted to the presence of the metal chain.

Keith was violently pulled toward the device, a moment Adrienne later described with raw emotion as she recalled “seeing the machine snatch him and pull him in.”

The forceful interaction triggered a severe medical episode.

Keith was rushed to the hospital in critical condition and suffered multiple heart attacks before being pronounced dead the following day, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

His wife said she desperately pleaded for help at the clinic, asking staff to call emergency services and demanding that the MRI machine be turned off.

“But eventually, he went limp in my arms,” Adrienne recounted.

“This is still pulsating in my brain.”

Adrienne also noted that this was not Keith’s first time inside the clinic while wearing the chain.

In her interview with News 12 Long Island, she said the staff had seen the chain before and even discussed it during earlier visits.

“This was not the first time that guy [technician] had seen that chain,” she said.

Despite the familiarity, no precautions appear to have been taken that day.

Nassau Open MRI declined to comment when contacted by media on Monday.

MRI machines operate using powerful magnetic fields and radio waves to generate detailed images of the inside of the body.

Though incredibly useful in medical diagnostics, the magnetic fields generated can become extremely hazardous when metal objects are brought near them.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates MRI safety standards, warns that strong static magnetic fields can turn metal items into dangerous projectiles.

The agency stresses the importance of rigorous screening protocols to prevent objects capable of becoming airborne from entering MRI zones.

Similarly, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering notes that MRI machines can exert intense magnetic forces on ferromagnetic materials such as iron and some types of steel.

These fields are strong enough to hurl heavy objects, including wheelchairs and oxygen tanks—across rooms, posing a grave risk to patients and medical personnel.

This isn’t the first time a fatal incident involving an MRI machine has occurred in New York.

In 2001, a six-year-old boy, Michael Colombini, tragically lost his life after an oxygen tank was pulled into the MRI chamber where he was being scanned at a hospital in Westchester County.

That incident led to increased scrutiny of MRI safety practices and calls for stricter enforcement of screening procedures.

The recent death of Keith McAllister has once again raised serious concerns about compliance with safety protocols in MRI environments.

Questions remain about how he was allowed to enter the scanning room while wearing a heavy metal object, and whether clinic staff followed standard safety guidelines.

As Adrienne mourns her husband’s untimely death, she is also left grappling with the haunting memory of the moment he was pulled into the machine.

The tragedy underscores the lethal potential of even brief lapses in MRI safety procedures and serves as a somber reminder of the importance of vigilance in high-risk medical settings.

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