In response to numerous recalls and consumer fatalities, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued an urgent warning concerning adult portable bed rails. Portable bed rails are often used in residential and assisted care living facilities (as well as in private residences) to prevent individuals with physical or mental limitations from falling and hurting themselves, to assist with mobility, and to offer support while sleeping – but they come with their own product-related risks.
The CPSC issued its warning in mid-November following the agency’s ninth recall of portable bed rails since 2021. It is also important to note that this most recent warning is not the agency’s first, but it’s second. Altogether, more than 3 million units of portable adult bed rails have been affected, and there have been at least 18 consumer deaths in the last four years. The CPSC’s recalls and warnings stem from consumers experiencing chest entrapment, falls, asphyxiation, and sustaining serious injuries to the head and/or neck. According to the agency’s internal data, 92% of the deaths associated with portable bed rails are from entrapment that typically involves the head or neck areas.
Despite the CPSC’s previous attempts to make adult bed rails safer by introducing new mandatory safety standards designed to address those specific concerns, they continue to inflict grave injury to vulnerable patients who rely on the products to make them safer. The agency’s current standards require that bed rails have retention systems and structural integrity, that manufacturers test four different entrapment zones, and that if a consumer misassembles the product that it becomes unusable. The agency has more mandatory standards in place, as well.
In even more of an effort to make adult portable bed rails safer for consumers, the CPSC has some helpful tips that users and caregivers alike should refer to before use. Here are some recommendations:
Brands of portable bed rails that the CPSC has recalled or issued safety warnings on include Bed Handles, Inc., Drive DeVilbiss, Essential Medical Supply, Compass Health, Nova Medical Products, Mobility Transfer Systems (MTS), Platinum Health, BeyondMedShop, Medline, Medical King, and Ceither.
Manufacturers, suppliers, and sellers have the duty to produce and/or sell safe products. If a portable adult bed rail causes an injury that results from an unsafe design, manufacturing defect, malfunction, and/or the failure to provide proper warnings and instructions, the victim may have a products liability claim on their hands. Seeing a products liability claim from beginning to end is a time-consuming, complex, and highly technical process, so it is best to have a credentialed and experienced attorney on your side.
At Galfand Berger, our attorneys have decades of experience representing victims of dangerous and defective products. For over 75 years, our firm has represented thousands of individuals who were injured by dangerous and unsafe products and has helped shape many of the laws that require manufacturers in Pennsylvania to make their products safe for consumers. If you or a loved one was injured by a portable bed rail, someone at our firm can help. Contact a representative online now to learn more.
Contact the Philadelphia personal injury attorneys at Galfand Berger LLP today. Call us at 800-222-USWA (8792) or fill out our online form for a free consultation. Located in Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Lancaster, and Reading, Pennsylvania, we serve clients throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including Allentown and Harrisburg.