Man who was pulled into MRI machine in New York has died, police say
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The magnetic force of an MRI machine is strong enough to fling a wheelchair across a room.
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: PIXABAY
Ryley Kirk, Aishvarya Kavi
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NEW YORK – A man who was critically injured on July 16 after he entered an MRI room on Long Island in New York and was pulled into the machine by his chain necklace died the next day, the authorities said on July 18.
The 61-year-old was wearing a “large metallic chain” around his neck when he entered the room at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York, at 4.34pm local time on July 16 (4.34am on July 17, Singapore time), according to the Nassau County Police Department.
The man, whom police did not name, did not have authorisation to enter the room, the police said. Being pulled into the machine made him have a medical episode, they said, without offering additional details.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died at 2.36pm on July 17, the authorities said.
Nassau County police said in a news release on July 18 that the investigation into the incident was continuing. A spokesperson for the department said that no other information was available.
Nassau Open MRI did not respond to a request for comment.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines use magnets and radio frequency currents to produce detailed anatomical images.
The magnetic force of an MRI machine is strong enough to fling a wheelchair across a room, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
Patients are advised to remove jewellery and piercings before entering an MRI machine, and people with some medical implants, particularly those containing iron, should not undergo MRI scans, the institute said.
Injuries and deaths involving MRI machines have occurred in the past. In 2001, a six-year-old boy died when a metal oxygen tank was pulled into a machine while he was undergoing a scan.
A man died in India in 2018 when he entered an MRI room while carrying an oxygen tank.
In 2023, a nurse in California was crushed and needed surgery after she was pinned between an MRI machine and a hospital bed that had been pulled towards the machine by the machine’s magnetic force.
Nassau Open MRI offers closed and open MRI scans, according to its website. An open MRI involves a machine that is open at the sides rather than a closed tube. NYTIMES
