A widow from Long Island has initiated a wrongful death legal action following her husband’s death in a tragic incident at an MRI center, claiming employees did not ensure he removed his 20-pound metal chain before being forcefully drawn into the machine’s intense magnetic force.
On Tuesday, Adrienne Jones-McAllister initiated the legal action in Nassau County’s state Supreme Court against Nassau Open MRI P.C. located on Old Country Road in Westbury, the location where her 61-year-old husband Keith McAllister died from his injuries after the incident on July 16, 2025.
The legal filing claims that an employee at the Westbury location called McAllister into the MRI chamber to assist his wife in getting off the scanning platform but neglected to tell him to take off his substantial metal jewelry—a 20-pound chain featuring a large lock that he utilized for strength training. The chain got caught in the machine’s extremely strong magnetic force, pulling McAllister into the machinery with extreme power.
Jones-McAllister, who had come to the location for knee imaging, saw the complete tragedy occur while remaining on the scanning platform within the mobile MRI trailer connected to the structure. According to several reports, she and the employee attempted for multiple minutes to liberate her husband before contacting authorities. He stayed attached to the machinery for nearly an hour before emergency personnel could detach the chain.
After first responders ultimately released McAllister from the MRI machinery, they transported him to the medical center in critical status. He had experienced several heart attacks because of the incident and died the following afternoon on July 17, based on Nassau County police reports.
In a devastating account provided to local news outlets, Jones-McAllister described observing without the ability to help as the equipment drew her husband in. “He waved goodbye to me and his whole body went limp,” she said through tears.
The widow has identified what she considers was a major breakdown in safety procedures. She informed News 12 Long Island that employees at the location were previously aware of her husband’s unique chain. “That was not the first time that guy has seen that chain,” Jones-McAllister said. “They had a conversation about it before.”
The legal action identifies several defendants in addition to Nassau Open MRI P.C. East Coast Radiology P.C., which had an agreement with the Westbury location to utilize its MRI equipment, is also identified in the filing. Sun Enterprises, an LLC that rented the location, and GM Partners Westbury LLC, which was the property owner, are also subject to claims.
Jones-McAllister’s legal counsel consists of attorney Andrew Finkelstein of Jacoby & Meyers and the Ben Crump Law. The compensation amount requested has not been made public.
The filing describes the extreme psychological damage Jones-McAllister suffered as she observed the incident occur. Based on legal papers, she “witnessed and was totally aware through all of her senses of the injuries and suffering and eventual death of her husband.”
The legal action claims that Jones-McAllister has suffered “severe and serious personal, psychological and emotional injuries” leading to “permanent effects of pain, disability, disfigurement and loss of body function” due to observing her husband’s death.
The filing describes a succession of purported breakdowns by the location: permitting Keith McAllister into the MRI chamber without adequate screening, neglecting to direct him to take off the chain, failing to power down the equipment before his entry, and not implementing emergency protocols once he got caught.
MRI equipment creates exceptionally strong magnetic forces that can draw metal items with destructive power. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering observes that these magnets can apply sufficient force “to fling a wheelchair across the room.” Metal objects remaining on or close to patients can be forcefully drawn toward the machinery at rapid velocity, resulting in catastrophic injuries or death.
Due to these risks, patients and anyone entering an MRI area must take off all metal items before coming near the scanning chamber. Checking patients and guests for metal constitutes a basic and essential safety requirement at healthcare centers throughout the nation.
McAllister, who survived on a limited budget from Social Security, is recalled by relatives as a loving husband, father, grandfather, and friend. His stepdaughter, Samantha Bodden, established a GoFundMe initiative to assist with funeral expenses, noting that “he was on a fixed income and didn’t have much.”
Nassau Open MRI has refused to provide comment on the legal action or the details regarding the incident. The matter now proceeds through Nassau County’s judicial system, where Jones-McAllister pursues responsibility for what her lawyers have characterized as “a preventable incident” that took her husband’s life and left her dealing with deep sorrow and psychological injuries the filing characterizes as permanent.
