A man who was critically injured on Wednesday after he entered an M.R.I. room on Long Island and was pulled into the machine by his chain necklace died the next day, the authorities said on Friday.
The man, who was 61, was wearing a “large metallic chain” around his neck when he entered the room at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, N.Y., at 4:34 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Nassau County Police Department.
The man, whom the police did not name, did not have authorization to enter the room, the police said. Being pulled into the machine made him have a medical episode, they said, without offering additional details.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died at 2:36 p.m. Thursday, the authorities said.
The Nassau County police said in a news release on Friday that the investigation into the episode was continuing. A spokesman for the department said that no other information was available.
Nassau Open MRI did not 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 while 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 had been 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.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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