MRI Incident on Long Island Takes Tragic Turn

UPDATE Jul 19, 2025 7:45 AM CDT

Police in New York's Nassau County said on Friday that a man who was critically injured after getting sucked into an MRI machine has died, reports NBC News. Authorities say the large metal chain that the 61-year-old Long Islander was wearing when the incident took place at Nassau Open MRI around 4:30pm local time on Wednesday caused the victim "to be drawn into the machine, which resulted in a medical episode." The man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital on Thursday afternoon. Safety protocols mandate no metal in MRI rooms, including any medical implants. The New York Times notes that "the magnetic force of an MRI machine is strong enough to fling a wheelchair across a room," according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Jul 17, 2025 12:19 PM CDT

A Long Island man was critically injured on Wednesday after he entered an MRI room without permission while a scan was in progress, police say. The 61-year-old was wearing a large metallic chain around his neck that caused him to be sucked into the machine, resulting in a "medical episode," police say, per PIX11.

The man was hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday incident at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, WABC reports. The machines use "intensely powerful magnets that can draw in metal objects, making it unsafe to bring metal of any kind near the machine," NBC New York notes. Authorities haven't disclosed the nature of the man's injuries.