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Keith McAllister did what any devoted husband would do — he went along to help his wife through a routine knee scan. The MRI clinic invited him into the room. No one told him to remove his necklace. He died the next day. And the rules that should have saved his life were already on the books — the clinic just didn't follow them.

By Samuel A. López | USA Herald Medical Negligence & Patient Safety April 2026

Read that again. He went to support his wife.

Keith McAllister, 61, of Hempstead, New York, wasn't a patient that July morning in 2025. He was a husband. He sat in the waiting room while Adrienne Jones-McAllister received an MRI scan of her knee at Nassau Open MRI in Westbury, Long Island. When the scan was done, the MRI technician asked Keith to come into the room to help his wife off the table.

Nobody told him to remove his chain. Nobody screened him. Nobody even asked.

Keith McAllister was wearing a heavy metallic chain around his neck — a 20-pound weight-training necklace. The moment he stepped close enough to the machine, the magnetic force did what it always does when no one has done their job: it pulled that chain, and the man wearing it, directly into the scanner. His wife was still on the table. She watched it happen. She held him in her arms as he went limp. He suffered multiple heart attacks. He was attached to that machine for almost an hour before anyone could free him. He died the next day, July 17, 2025.

And now Adrienne Jones-McAllister — widow, eyewitness, and survivor of one of the most horrific things a spouse can ever experience — is fighting back in court.

The lawsuit

Adrienne Jones-McAllister, represented by attorneys from Jacoby and Meyers LLP and Crump Law Offices — including prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump — has filed suit in Nassau County Supreme Court. The complaint names four defendants.

Nassau Open MRI P.C. East Coast Radiology P.C. Sun Enterprises GM Partners Westbury LLC

CASE FILE — JONES-MCALLISTER V. NASSAU OPEN MRI ET AL.

Court

Nassau County Supreme Court

Filed

April 2026

Incident Date

July 16, 2025

Date of Death

July 17, 2025

Plaintiff

Adrienne Jones-McAllister, 61

Plaintiff Attorneys

Jacoby & Meyers LLP; Crump Law Offices

Damages Sought

Unspecified — jury to determine what is "fair, adequate and just"

The complaint alleges a cascade of failures — every one of which, had it been prevented, would have meant Keith McAllister went home that evening.

ALLEGED FAILURES — PER COURT COMPLAINT

1

Failed to screen Keith McAllister for metallic objects before allowing him to enter the MRI room, despite the fact that he was not a patient and had undergone no pre-scan safety assessment

2

Failed to instruct McAllister to remove his metallic necklace before entering the room — a basic requirement under established MRI safety protocols

3

Failed to shut down or power off the MRI machine before inviting a non-screened individual into the room

4

Failed to activate the emergency shutoff switch once McAllister became trapped — he remained attached to the machine for nearly an hour

5

Permitted "dangerous, hazardous and/or unsafe conditions to exist" in the facility, allowing an unscreened visitor direct access to the MRI Zone IV environment

"Defendants knew or should have known that allowing individuals with metallic objects into the MRI room presents a serious and well documented risk of catastrophic injury, including death."

— Complaint, Jones-McAllister v. Nassau Open MRI et al.

These rules already existed. They just weren't followed.

Here's the part of this story that I find most damning — and that I think every American needs to understand, because this could happen at any MRI facility in the country that isn't doing its job.

MRI safety protocols are not new. They are not obscure. They are not optional. The American College of Radiology has established a four-zone safety framework that governs who can enter an MRI environment and under what conditions. Under those guidelines, anyone entering Zone III or Zone IV — the controlled areas immediately adjacent to and containing the MRI machine — must be screened for ferromagnetic objects. This applies to patients, staff, and visitors alike.

ACR MRI SAFETY PROTOCOL — WHAT SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED

Every individual entering the MRI environment — including non-patients and visitors — must be screened for metallic objects before entering Zones III or IV

All visitors must be briefed on MRI safety and instructed to remove any ferromagnetic jewelry, watches, or devices

No person who has not been screened should be allowed through the controlled access point into the MRI room

The magnet is always on — even when not actively imaging. It cannot simply be "turned off" instantly, but emergency quench procedures exist for exactly these situations

Most MR-related injuries are due to inadequate screening — this is documented in published medical literature going back decades

According to published research in the National Institutes of Health database, most MR-related injuries occur as a direct result of inadequate screening. This is not an emerging area of knowledge. This is settled, documented, and universally-taught MRI safety science.

Keith McAllister's widow was asking the technician to turn off the machine in real time. "I was saying, 'Could you turn off the machine? Call 911. Do something. Turn this damn thing off!'" she told News 12 Long Island. Her husband was trapped. Her husband was dying. And by her account, it took nearly an hour to free him.

A husband. A father. A grandfather.

I don't want this to get lost in the legal framework. Keith McAllister was a person. He was a husband. He was a father and a stepfather. He was a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, and a friend to many. He went to a radiology clinic on a Tuesday morning to help his wife off a table. That is the entirety of what he did to put himself in that room.

"He went limp in my arms."

— Adrienne Jones-McAllister, News 12 Long Island (July 2025)

"This horrific and entirely preventable tragedy underscores the critical importance of safety protocols in medical facilities. Keith McAllister should be alive today. No one, especially someone simply accompanying their loved one, should be exposed to fatal danger in a medical setting."

— Attorney Ben Crump (August 2025)

What this case means beyond this family

Nearly 40 million MRI scans are performed in the United States every year. In the vast majority of those procedures, the screening protocols work. Technicians ask the right questions. Jewelry comes off. Visitors are briefed. Nobody gets hurt.

But the McAllister case — a visitor invited directly into a Zone IV MRI room without any screening whatsoever — suggests that at least some facilities are treating these protocols as suggestions rather than requirements. The lawsuit alleges that is exactly what happened in Westbury on July 16, 2025.

Ben Crump's involvement ensures this case will receive national attention. His track record in high-profile wrongful death litigation means Nassau Open MRI and its affiliated entities will face a rigorous legal reckoning. And the outcome of this case — whether a settlement or a jury verdict — has the potential to force a conversation about MRI visitor screening standards at a national level that is long overdue.

Keith McAllister did not have to die. Attorney Ben Crump said it plainly, and I agree with him: this was preventable. The protocols existed. The warnings were known. The only thing missing was someone at that clinic doing their job.

We'll be following this case closely as it moves through Nassau County Supreme Court. Stay with us.

— Samuel A. López, USA Herald

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