this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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A 61-year-old man who suffered critical injuries after being pulled into an MRI machine while wearing a metal chain has died, police said Friday.

The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon at a medical building in Westbury, New York, according to the Nassau County Police Department.

Officers responded to Nassau Open MRI following a 911 call and were informed that the man "entered an unauthorized Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) room while the scan was in progress," the police department said in a statement.

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[–] shai_hulud@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Pure gold will heat up according to my reading, but won't be pulled in.

What if he thought or told people it was pure gold and it would be fine but it was just a plated steel chain?

[–] FinalRemix@lemmy.world 33 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Arrested development, S3E11

George: ... The prosecution is going to want to have access to the hard drive, so I just want to make sure everything is nice and clean for them.

Michael: What the hell is that thing?

George: An electromagnet. Think of it as a giant delete key.
..
Lucille enters. Her necklace is ripped from her and snaps to the electromagnet across the room.

Lucille: That’s not a real gold necklace, is it?

George: Well, it wasn’t really your 50th birthday.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Happened in a physics course from my old teacher. A girl had a golden chain she got from her boyfriend and was sure it was pure gold, until that faithful outing to visit the nearby universities particle accelerator...

[–] eskimofry@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

which is extra dumb when you realise no jewellery is ever pure gold. It is 22K. Otherwise it cannot withstand daily wear and tear.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

"Pure gold" as in "not just gold plated something", of course. And 22k is actually rare for jewellry, most of it is 10, 14, and 18k. If you watch Sreetips, it seems to be distributed in an about ratio of 2:2:1.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Had to bring my daughter for an MRI recently. They are very very clear about removing all metal.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

I had one a couple weeks ago. Where I went I had to be buzzed into a waiting room then buzzed into the MRI room itself. Without a card key or an escort there was no way for me to enter the room.

And yeah, I was also asked more than once about having any metal on me.

[–] El_Scapacabra@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I had an MRI recently and while they were obviously very strict about no metal on/in my body while scanning, my husband was allowed to stay in the room wearing his metal framed glasses and metal belt buckle, it wasn't a problem. This makes me wonder how fucking big that chain was.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah very similar experience. I asked about the button on my jeans as the second person in the room and that was fine. He must have been very very close to the magnets.

[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I wouldn't trust people to tell the truth. People are idiots. I hope they also use metal detectors.

Wouldn't want a doctor or nurse getting a prince Albert to the eye because the patient was too embarrassed to mention it.

[–] KMAMURI@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

People who have PA's are not too embarrassed to mention them. 15 years is a paramedic has told me this.

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago (2 children)

the man “entered an unauthorized Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) room while the scan was in progress,”

He didn't tell anybody anything. He wasn't supposed to be in there.

My guess is that someone forgot to lock the door. My question is, why isn't it an electronic lock that prevents operation of the machine if it's not locked?

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

why isn't it an electronic lock that prevents operation of the machine if it's not locked?

Because that would throw the liability on the facility when the system inevitably failed, or was bypassed because the $1000 lock mechanism was preventing the $10m MRI from working.

Much easier to slap up a couple of warning signs and tell people not to be dumb.

[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't protect their liability when everyone knows door locks exist.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Okay, say there's an emergency with the patient being scanned. The people getting scanned are usually very sick.

Say the patient has a heart attack, or can't breathe, or something malfunctioned and caught on fire.

What happens if the door malfunctions? Or the key is dropped/misplaced? Or any similar scenario occurs that delays help when seconds count?

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Quexotic 1 points 3 days ago
[–] leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago (2 children)

why isn't it an electronic lock that prevents operation of the machine if it's not locked?

Why not make it simpler and make it a magnetic lock that simply locks the door by being pulled towards the machine? (With a mechanical override so you can get in if you really want to and have the key.)

[–] AlbertSpangler@lemmings.world 5 points 3 days ago

The magnet doesn't get turned off when not scanning

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Either:

The door is too far to get pulled by the MRI, or it's such an intense force that you would lose a limb in the door.