Photo: GoFundMe
A New York man died after being pulled into an MRI machine, but police and loved ones have conflicting accounts of his death, per The Root.
61-year-old Keith McAllister died on Thursday (July 17), one day after police said he was sucked into an MRI machine at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, New York. According to police, McAllister was wearing “a large metallic chain around his neck, causing him to be drawn into the machine."
Police claimed that McAllister entered the MRI room unauthorized, "while the scan was in progress." However, McAllister's wife, Adrienne, has a different account of what unfolded.
Adrienne said she was visiting Nassau Open MRI for a scan of her knee. McAllister initially stayed in the waiting room while his wife completed her appointment. Adrienne said she later asked the technician to get her husband to help her off the table after her MRI was complete.
McAllister's chain got caught in the machine when he was brought into the room by staff, according to Adrienne.
“At that instant, the machine switched him around, pulled him in, and he hit the MRI,” she recalled. Adrienne said she and the technician tried to pull her husband away from the machine.
“I’m saying, ‘Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!’” she said.
McAllister was taken to a local hospital, where he remained in critical condition before dying on Thursday.
“He went limp in my arms, and this is still pulsating in my brain,” Adrienne said.
“I haven’t been able to sleep, I’m barely eating. I just can’t believe,” she added. “I’m just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing.”
MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, has a strong magnetic field, requiring patients to remove all metal materials prior to stepping into the room with the machine, including jewelry.
Adrienne says the technician forgot to remind McAllister to take off his chain, and he was allowed in the room to assist her off the table. Nassau police allege that McAllister defied orders to stay out of the MRI room after hearing a “relative screaming during a scan."
An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
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