The wife of the New York man who was killed after being sucked into an MRI machine by his metal chain has filed a lawsuit against the radiology office that she claims took his life.
Adrienne Jones-McAllister, the widow of Keith McAllister, filed a lawsuit against Nassau Open MRI on Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Nassau County after her beloved husband died in the freak accident, the legal filing obtained by Newsday stated.
The couple went to the facility on July 16, 2025, so Adrienne, 61, could get imaging done on her knee.
Once it was complete, a technician left the room and ‘summoned’ Keith, also 61, to assist them with getting his wife off the table attached to the machine that was still on, the lawsuit stated.
As he did so, the large magnets and radio waves in the machine dragged Keith by the 20lb chain dangling from his neck, which he used for weight training, Adrienne said in an interview after his death.
Terror quickly unfolded, with the forceful imaging scanner grabbing Keith ‘for almost an hour before they could release the chain from the machine,’ according to a GoFundMe page his family created at the time.
When he was finally freed, Keith was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition after suffering multiple heart attacks from the horrid ordeal. He died on July 17 from his injuries.
Adrienne, who watched in horror as the medical machine took her husband’s life, said she ‘witnessed and was totally aware through all of her senses of the injuries and suffering and eventual death of her husband,’ the lawsuit said.
She previously blamed the technician for not instructing her husband to remove his chain, something all MRI specialists must do to prevent the powerful magnetic force from injuring someone.
‘That was not the first time that guy has seen that chain. They had a conversation about it before,’ Adrienne tearfully told News 12 Long Island at the time.
‘I saw him walk toward the table and then the machine just snatched him. He went limp in my arms – and this is still pulsating in my brain,’ she said of her husband.
The lawsuit, filed by Adrienne’s lawyers Andrew Finkelstein of Jacoby & Meyers and the Crump Law Office, named Nassau Open MRI P.C., East Coast Radiology P.C., Sun Enterprises, and GM Partners Westbury LLC, it listed.
East Coast Radiology P.C. is contracted with the facility to use its MRI machine, Sun Enterprises is an LLC that leased the facility, and GM Partners Westbury LLC owned the property, Newsday reported.
MRI machines generate strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed internal images of the human body.
The magnetic pull of MRIs is so strong that it is capable of flinging a wheelchair across the room, according to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
The machine can also heat metal objects very fast, potentially causing severe burns to the skin.
When undergoing an MRI procedure, patients are generally asked to remove all jewelry and piercings to remain safe.
People with certain medical implants are unable to go into an MRI machine at all. This generally includes people with cochlear implants, blood vessel stents, cardiac defibrillators, and pacemakers.
When contacted by the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for Nassau Open MRI said: ‘No comment.’
The Daily Mail also reached out to Adrienne’s lawyers for comment.
Original source: gb