A MAN who tragically died after being pulled into an MRI machine by his 20-pound chain was stuck to the machine for an hour before being freed, his family claims.
Keith McAllister, 61, suffered fatal injuries in the freak accident while his wife was undergoing an MRI scan at a clinic on New York’s Long Island on Wednesday afternoon.
Keith’s wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, was at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury for a scan of her knee when the incident unfolded.
In a GoFundMe set up for burial costs, Samantha Bodden revealed new details about her dad’s horrific final moments.
She wrote: “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.
“My mother and the tech tried for several minutes to release him before the police were called.
“He was attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine.”
The grieving daughter went on to explain that Keith suffered several heart attacks after the incident.
She added that, despite reports claiming Keith wasn’t authorised to be in the room, it was the technician who brought him in.
Wife Adrienne previously told News 12 Long Island that she asked the technician to bring her husband in to hep her get up from the table.
Keith was wearing a large metal chain around his neck, which his wife said he often used for weight training.
This caused him to be pulled off his feet and into the machine.
Adrienne said she saw the scanning device “snatch him” as he approached her.
“At that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI,” she said, adding, “He went limp in my arms, and this is still pulsating in my brain.”
Adrienne recounted the agonising moments when she told the technician to turn off the machine and call 911.
She revealed that it was not the first time the pair had visited Nassau Open MRI, even claiming that the staff member had previously discussed Keith’s huge chain.
The powerful magnetic field generated by an MRI machine can pull metal objects in with great force.
For this reason, patients are asked to remove metal items and change their clothes before having MRI scans or going near machines.
Dr. Payal Sud, a doctor from North Shore University Hospital, told CBS: “The dangers [of not following protocol] could be catastrophic and it underscores why we have all the safety precautions in place.
“If this was a chain that was wrapped around the neck, I could imagine any kind of strangulation injuries that could happen. Asphyxiation, cervical spine injuries.”
North Shore says that MRI machines can be especially dangerous for people with oxygen tanks, in wheelchairs or even those wearing magnetic jewelry.
