A man is in a critical condition after he was magnetically pulled into an MRI machine while wearing a metal neck chain.
The 61-year-old walked into the MRI room at Nassau Open MRI on Long Island, New York, on Wednesday afternoon while someone else was undergoing an MRI, according police.
His metal neck chain then pulled him into the machine, at which point he suffered a medical episode and was rushed to hospital.
No more details about the episode or injuries have been given, only that he was in a critical condition.
Nassau County Police say he was not a patient at the medical centre and had been visiting with someone else, but was unauthorised to enter the MRI room. They do not believe any criminality was involved.
The incident is reminiscent of a gruesome scene in Final Destination: Bloodlines, which was released in May and is the sixth installment of the franchise.
In the film, one of the characters and the wheelchair he’s sitting in are dragged into a MRI machine, while his brother’s numerous piercings get pulled out. Neither survive (unsurprisingly, given it’s Final Destination).
Nassau Open MRI, which has several other branches, offers both open and closed scans.
Medical professionals at the nearby North Shore University Hospital, expressed their shocked and said that rigorous safety protocols should be in place to avoid attracting MRI machines attracting metal objects.
Speaking about the accident, ER doctor Payal Sud told Eyewitness News: ‘If this was a chain that was wrapped around the neck, I could imagine any kind of strangulation injuries that could happen, asphyxiation, cervical spine injuries if the patient was slams against the MRI, you know, any kind of blunt force trauma that we can think about could happen.’
The investigation is ongoing.
MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, machines use powerful magnetic fields, so patients and medical staff must always remove jewelry and other metal objects before entering the room the equipment is in.
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