A man who entered an M.R.I. room during a scan in Westbury, N.Y., on Wednesday was pulled into the machine by his chain necklace and was hospitalized in critical condition, the authorities said.
The man, who is 61, was wearing a “large metallic chain” around his neck when he entered the room at Nassau Open MRI around 4:34 p.m., according to the Nassau County Police Department, on Long Island. The man, whom the police did not name, did not have authorization to enter the room, the authorities said.
Nassau Open MRI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
M.R.I. machines use magnets and radio frequency currents to produce detailed anatomical images. The magnetic force of an M.R.I. 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 jewelry and piercings before entering an M.R.I. machine, and people with some medical implants, particularly those containing iron, should not undergo M.R.I. scans, the institute said.
Injuries and deaths involving M.R.I. machines have occurred in the past. In 2001, a 6-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 M.R.I. room carrying an oxygen tank. In 2023, a nurse in California was crushed and needed surgery after she was pinned between an M.R.I. machine and a hospital bed that was pulled toward the machine by the machine’s magnetic force.
Nassau Open MRI offers closed and open M.R.I. scans, according to its website. An open M.R.I. involves a machine that is open at the sides rather than a closed tube.
