Adult Portable Bed Rails Linked to Asphyxiation, Deaths

Certain models have been recalled
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 7, 2022 3:00 AM CDT
Adult Portable Bed Rails Linked to Asphyxiation, Deaths
A picture of some of the recalled rails.   (CPSC)

Thousands of adult portable bed rails have been recalled in recent months, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission just added two more brands to the growing list after reports of three deaths between 2006 and 2013. Meant as a safety device, some bed rails carry a risk of asphyxiation if people become trapped while using them, NPR reports. The latest brands to be recalled were manufactured by Mobility Transfer Systems Inc. between 1992 and 2021 and Metal Tubing USA Inc. in 2021 and 2022, and were sold by various online retailers. The CPSC says 285,000 products are impacted; get more details on the models recalled here and here.

The people who died were a 78-year-old woman in a Michigan assisted living facility, an 85-year-old man in an Oklahoma nursing home, and a 90-year-old woman with disabilities living in California. "CPSC evaluated the bed rails and found that consumers can become entrapped between the bed rail and mattress, or within portions of the bed rail itself, leading to asphyxia," the agency says in a statement, adding that neither company agreed to institute a recall or to offer a remedy to people who bought the products and that "future action" against them is possible. The FDA warns all such bed rails should be used with caution, and says seven deaths related to the products have been reported to the agency between 2005 and 2013. (More product recall stories.)

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