Recently, a 61-year-old man in the United States was tragically killed after being sucked into a nuclear magnetic resonance (MRI) machine by a strong magnetic field while wearing a large metal necklace.
On July 18th, local time, the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island, New York, announced that the incident occurred on the 16th at the Nassau Open MRI Center. The man entered an MRI examination room where equipment was undergoing scanning at the time.
The statement mentioned that the man’s “large metal necklace around his neck caused him to be drawn towards the machine,” which led to a “medical emergency.” He was then urgently transported to North Shore University Hospital for treatment, but succumbed to his injuries on the 17th due to severe damage.
According to the police, the man was not a patient undergoing medical scans but was accompanying someone else for an examination. Eyewitnesses revealed that despite being ordered not to enter the MRI room, he insisted on doing so because of loud screams from his relatives.
Officials have yet to disclose the exact cause of death, but a doctor at North Shore University Hospital speculated that “if the necklace had wrapped around the neck, it could lead to various asphyxiation injuries, such as suffocation or cervical injury.”
MRI imaging is a common diagnostic tool in medicine. According to data from the National Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Institute in the United States, the magnetic field of the device extends beyond the machine itself, drawing any iron-containing objects, with its strength “strong enough to pull wheelchairs out of the room.” Therefore, there are strict safety regulations in the MRI room, requiring patients undergoing scans to inform staff about any implants in their bodies, including those with pacemakers, cochlear implants, and other iron-containing devices, who are absolutely prohibited from entering the scanner room.
In recent years, similar tragedies have also occurred in the United States. In 2001, a 6-year-old boy in Westchester County, New York, was fatally injured when a metal oxygen tank suddenly sucked into the room and flew past him, causing a skull fracture and death. In 2023, a nurse in California was accidentally trapped between an MRI machine and a hospital bed, suffering severe compression injuries.
Red Star News, Deng Xiyi
Editor: Zhang Li
Editorial: Li Binbin