Following three deaths, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced a recall involving portable bed handles over the potential for entrapment, strangulation, and death risks. Consumers are advised against using the Bed Handles Inc. products without the safety and warning kit. Bed Handles Inc. of Blue Springs, Missouri is recalling 113,000 adult portable […]
Following three deaths, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just announced a recall involving portable bed handles over the potential for entrapment, strangulation, and death risks. Consumers are advised against using the Bed Handles Inc. products without the safety and warning kit.
Bed Handles Inc. of Blue Springs, Missouri is recalling 113,000 adult portable bed handles. The Bed Handles product is attached to an adult’s bed without safety retention straps. The handle may shift out of place, which creates a dangerous gap between the handle and the side of the mattress, posing risks to the adult.
To date, three women have died after they became entangled between the bed handles and the bed’s mattress. The three include an elderly woman who died in Edina, Minnesota; a disabled woman, 42, who died in an adult family home in Renton, Washington; and a woman 82, who died in a managed care facility in Vancouver, Washington.
The recalled Bed Handles Inc. products were sold from 1994 through 2007 and are not constructed with safety retention straps to secure the bed handle to the bed frame to ensure the bed handle does not move and of place. This creates the dangerous gap. The recalled models include:
The recalled bed handles are “L”-shaped and made out of ¾-inch tubular steel. The handles measure 20 inches in width and 16 to 20 inches in height. The handles are constructed with 3-foot poles that extend under the mattress. The Original Bedside Assistant® (BA10W) and the Travel Handles™ (BA11W) have a white handle with white poles that go under the mattress; the Adjustable Bedside Assistant® (AJ1) is gold in color and has a black cushioned foam handle. The bed handles are meant to assist adults entering and exiting their beds by providing a bar to grip. The words “Bed Handles Inc.” and the model number are printed on a white label that may be found on the bed handles.
The recalled bed handles were sold by home health care stores, drug stores, and medical equipment stores nationwide and in home and health care catalogs from January 1994 through December 2007. The recalled bed handles, which were manufactured in the United States, sold for about $100.
Bed Handles indicated that it would provide free safety retention straps that are meant to secure the bed handle to the bed frame, new assembly and installation instructions for the three recalled models, and a warning label to attach to the bed handles. The bed handles should only be used with the safety retention straps securely in place and the bed handle should be attached to the bed frame to prevent a gap.