{"id":10141,"date":"2025-07-21T05:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T05:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10141\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T05:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T05:45:13","slug":"keith-mcallister-fatal-mistake-made-moments-before-man-died-when-he-was-torpedoed-into-mri-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/10141\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith McAllister: Fatal mistake made moments before man died when he was \u2018torpedoed\u2019 into MRI machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fatal mistake made moments before a man was sucked into an MRI machine and died has been revealed.<\/p>\n

Keith McAllister\u2019s wife has recalled the horror moment his metal necklace became a \u201ctorpedo\u201d inside the imaging room while she was getting an MRI scan on her knee.<\/p>\n

The 61-year-old New York man died after being dragged into an MRI machine by his own necklace, in a freak incident that has sparked questions over the safety protocols at the facility.<\/p>\n

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Adrienne Jones-McAllister claims staff were aware of her husband\u2019s necklace and led him into the room at Nassau Open MRI in Long Island on Wednesday afternoon, The Sun<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

She had asked a technician to bring her husband in there to assist her in standing up after a knee scan.<\/p>\n

As Mr McAllister approached, the machine\u2019s powerful magnet caught hold of the heavy chain around his neck \u2014 described as weighing up to nearly 500grams \u2014 and pulled him off his feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe went limp in my arms,\u201d Ms Jones-McAllister explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is still pulsating in my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she shouted at staff to turn the machine off and call emergency services, but it was too late. Mr McAllister was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries and suffered multiple heart attacks before dying the next day.<\/p>\n

\"KeithKeith McAllister tragically died after a freak MRI accident. Credit: Samantha Bodden\/Facebook<\/p>\n

The necklace, which Ms Jones-McAllister said her husband regularly wore for weight training, had been seen by staff before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was not the first time that guy has seen that chain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a conversation about it before \u2014 casual comments like, \u2018Ooooooh, that\u2019s a big chain!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Department of Health is now reviewing the incident.<\/p>\n

While MRI machines are known for their powerful magnetic fields, the department noted that MRI facilities in New York are not subject to routine inspections because they are not regulated as part of diagnostic and treatment centres.<\/p>\n

Experts say the magnets are powerful enough to turn even small objects into dangerous projectiles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was a chain wrapped around the neck, I could imagine strangulation injuries, asphyxiation, cervical spine injuries,\u201d said Dr Payal Sud of North Shore University Hospital.<\/p>\n

Charles Winterfeldt, the hospital\u2019s director of imaging services, said such a chain would effectively become a \u201ctorpedo\u201d inside the machine.<\/p>\n

MRI machines are never truly \u201coff\u201d and pose known risks to patients or bystanders with oxygen tanks, wheelchairs, or magnetic jewellery.<\/p>\n

The tragedy has renewed calls for stricter safety measures and clearer regulations around who can access imaging suites and under what conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fatal mistake made moments before a man was sucked into an MRI machine and died has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40,2957,1720],"class_list":["post-10141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-usa","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}