A 61-year-old man tragically died after being pulled into an MRI machine, and new details have since emerged about what happened.
The horrifying accident took place on July 16, 2025, at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York. According to reports, the scanner’s powerful magnetic force pulled the man into the machine while he was wearing a heavy weight-training chain around his neck.
While the Nassau County Police Department had not yet been given permission to release his name, the man’s wife identified him as Keith McAllister during an interview with News 12 Long Island.
Adrienne Jones-McAllister was undergoing an MRI scan on her knee when she asked a technician to get her husband, 61-year-old Keith, to help her off the table. According to Adrienne, he entered the room and was suddenly pulled into the machine by its powerful magnetic force.
“He went limp in my arms,” Jones-McAllister told News 12 Long Island. “And that moment is still pulsating in my brain.”
Died after being pulled into MRI machine
According to police, the roughly 20-pound chain around Keith’s neck was caught by the machine’s magnetic field, violently pulling him toward the scanner. According to a GoFundMe launched by a family member, he was “attached to the machine for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine.”
“The male victim was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck causing him to be drawn into the machine, which resulted in a medical episode,” the Nassau County Police Department said in a statement.
Adrienne said the technician called Keith into the room, and “at that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in and he hit the MRI.”
Keith suffered multiple heart attacks as a result of the incident. He was rushed to the hospital but died two days later from his injuries.
“His whole body went limp”
His wife later recalled the terrifying accident.
“I said: ‘Could you turn off the machine, call 911, do something, Turn this damn thing off!’” she said, according to VT.
The technician reportedly attempted to pull Keith away from the machine, but was unsuccessful.
“He waved goodbye to me and then his whole body went limp,” Adrienne said.
According to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, MRI machines “employ a strong magnetic field” that “exerts very powerful forces on objects of iron, some steels, and other magnetizable objects,” as quoted by VT. The agency notes that the magnets are even “strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room,” underscoring the immense force involved in accidents like this.
“Keith was a husband, a father, a stepfather, a grandfather, a brother, and an uncle. He was a friend to many,” the GoFundMe reads.
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