Officers found a 61-year-old man critically injured after he was yanked into an MRI machine while wearing a metal chain, Nassau County police said Thursday.
The man, whose name has not been released, “entered an unauthorized” room at Nassau Open MRI in New York wearing a “large metallic chain” on Wednesday at around 4:34 p.m., according to a press release. The chain allegedly caused him to be “drawn” to the machine and triggered a “medical episode.” (RELATED: Video Appears To Show New Jersey Woman Plow Through Anti-ICE Protesters, Injuring 3, Police Say)
“The Nassau County Police Department responded to assist the aided where he was transported to a local area hospital. He is listed in critical condition,” the statement reads.
Police said “the investigation is ongoing.” Reporters were asked to leave the Nassau Open MRI office and employees declined to answer questions, NBC4 New York reported.
Nassau Open MRI told the Daily Caller it had no comment.
A doctor examines MRI scans at the Warith Oncology Hospital, which has initiated a 40-day free treatment campaign for cancer patients on the occasion of the Arbaeen religious festival, in Iraq’s shrine city of Karbala on August 27, 2023. (Photo by MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images)
The center’s website says its open MRI machines are designed to provide comfort for patients with claustrophobia and can accommodate “physically large” patients. It also warns patients to remove “anything metallic, such as a hearing aid, partial plate, dentures, jewelry or hair pins” before the procedure.
There have been previous reports of injuries and even death in the U.S. connected to MRI machines, according to The New York Times. In 2001, officials said a 6-year-old boy died in Westchester, New York, after an oxygen tank was sucked into the machine during the procedure. In 2023, a California nurse was severely injured after getting stuck between an MRI and a metal hospital bed, an investigation found.