A man in Long Island, N.Y. is dead after a metal chain he was wearing pulled him towards an MRI machine similar to the one pictured at a private clinic, police confirmed this week. Pool Photo by Chris Ratcliffe/EPA-EFE
July 19 (UPI) — A man in Long Island, N.Y., is dead after a metal chain he was wearing pulled him toward an MRI machine at a private clinic, police confirmed.
The 61-year-old was inside the Nassau Open MRI clinic this week when he entered an “unauthorized” room while wearing the chain as one of the magnetic resonance imaging machines was operating.
“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 responded to assist the aided where he was transported to a local area hospital,” the department said in a statement.
The man was in critical condition when he was transported to the hospital and died the following day, police said in an update.
Nassau Open MRI is located in Westbury, a village in the town of North Hempstead in Nassau County on the North Shore of Long Island, with a population of around 17,000 people.
The company’s website says it has “earned a reputation with our referring physicians and patients for friendly service and clinical accuracy. Our high quality state-of-the-art technology provides the patients and physicians an extra measure of comfort and service.”
As of early Saturday afternoon, the company had not issued a public statement about the incident.
MRI scans are some of the most commonly-done medical scans in the United States.
“The strong magnetic field of an MRI scanner can affect medical implants that contain metal or magnets. When this happens, the implant may move or twist inside of the patient’s body, causing discomfort, pain, or injury,” reads an MRI safety description on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s website.
“Patients with metal-containing implants such as cochlear implants (which also typically contain a magnet) need to be aware of this risk and ensure that health care providers and MR technologists are aware of their implant so that they can take proper precautions when receiving an MRI exam. In addition, the radio waves of an MRI scanner may cause heating of the implant.”