As a reminder and to help him get to his feet safely, his daughter purchased a bed rail. The man didn't realize he'd gotten out of bed. Connie Wilcosky of OSF Home Care Services in Peoria said she recently had an 80-year-old patient fall on his way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Some say bed rails can make sense in the right context, but much depends on the patient and how the rails are used. But I have many cards and letters from people, saying it has changed their lives." We're dealing with a very fragile and vulnerable population. "But there is a significant risk even without a product involved. "People will die using this or another bed rail type product," Shaw acknowledged. He said the handles give people a degree of much-needed independence and freedom in a difficult time and said he has added a safety strap to help prevent accidents, among other adjustments. In 2011, Public Citizen filed a petition asking the FDA to recall it and similar products, saying the FDA's adverse events database showed it was associated with at least four deaths.Ĭompany owner Bon Shaw developed the bed handles to help his wife, who struggled with multiple sclerosis and has since died. Separately, Black and a coalition of more than 60 organizations filed a petition in May that calls for the CPSC to recall and ban portable adult bed rails - or, in lieu of a ban, to set safety standards.ĬPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson said the agency cannot create mandatory rules unless all other options - including voluntary consensus standards - have been pursued.Īs of August 2012, bed rails for children must meet federal safety standards that CPSC put into effect under a federal law passed a few years earlier in response to a Tribune investigation of dangerous toys and other children's products.īed Handles Inc., based in Blue Springs, Mo., makes the Bedside Assistant, a portable bed rail marketed as a way to help people get in and out of bed. Some consumer advocates say portable adult bed rails are inherently dangerous and that it is not possible to create acceptable safety standards the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen filed a petition this year asking the CPSC to ban them. Those who wanted the rails for mobility could keep them with a doctor's order, according to the report.Ī spokeswoman for the company did not return calls for comment. The facility, now owned by Providence Life Services and operating under a different name, reworked its protocols for side rail assessments and removed the rails if the patient agreed. A medical examiner found that compression also fractured a bone in her neck, the report said. In 2008, a 99-year old resident of Rest Haven Central in Palos Heights who had severe dementia and was a high fall risk died of "compressional asphyxia, due to trapping between the bed rail and the mattress," according to a state inspection report. They don't have the strength to extricate themselves or are confused and demented." "The problem is worse because this mostly happens to small people who can go into slots between the mattress and the rail. "They can't even scream air is squeezed out of the lungs," he said.
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