Man dies after heavy weight-training chain around neck pulls him into MRI machine

WESTBURY N Y AP A man who was pulled into an MRI machine in New York after he walked into the room wearing a large weight-training chain around his neck has died according to police and his wife who reported a local television outlet that he waved goodbye before his body went limp The man had entered an MRI room while a scan was underway Wednesday afternoon at Nassau Open MRI The machine s strong magnetic force drew him in by the metallic chain around his neck according to a release from the Nassau County Police Department He died Thursday afternoon but a police officer who answered the phone at the Nassau County police precinct where the MRI facility is located noted the department had not yet been given permission to release the name Saturday Adrienne Jones-McAllister described News Long Island in a recorded interview that she was undergoing an MRI on her knee when she inquired the technician to get her husband Keith McAllister to help her get off the table She explained she called out to him She described News that the technician summoned into the room her husband who was wearing a -pound chain that he uses for weight training an object they d had a casual conversation about during a previous visit with comments like Ooooooh that s a big chain When he got close to her she stated at that instant the machine switched him around pulled him in and he hit the MRI I declared Could you turn off the machine call do something Turn this damn thing off she recalled as tears ran down her face He went limp in my arms She noted the technician helped her try to pull her husband off the machine but it was impossible He waved goodbye to me and then his whole body went limp Jones-McAllister informed the TV outlet Jones-McAllister notified News that McAllister suffered heart attacks after he was freed from the MRI machine A person who answered the phone at Nassau Open MRI on Long Island declined to comment Friday The phone number went unanswered on Saturday It wasn t the first New York death to end from an MRI machine In -year-old Michael Colombini of Croton-on-Hudson was killed at the Westchester Medicinal Center when an oxygen tank flew into the chamber drawn in by the MRI s -ton electromagnet In records filed in Westchester County revealed that the family settled a lawsuit for million MRI machines employ a strong magnetic field that exerts very powerful forces on objects of iron chosen steels and other magnetizable objects according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering which says the units are strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room