Bed Handles Inc. Recalls Portable Bed Handles Due to Entrapment Deaths

Plain-English summary

Bed Handles Inc. is recalling approximately 113,000 adult portable bed handles that were sold without safety retention straps. The affected models include the Original Bedside Assistant (BA10W), the Travel Handles (BA11W), and the Adjustable Bedside Assistant (AJ1). These L-shaped steel handles are designed to assist adults with getting in and out of bed but lack the necessary straps to secure them to the bed frame.

The recall is due to a serious risk of entrapment, strangulation, and death. When attached to a bed without the safety retention straps, the handles can shift out of place, creating a dangerous gap between the handle and the side of the mattress. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that three women died after becoming entrapped in this gap. The victims included an elderly woman in an Edina, Minn. assisted living facility, a 41-year-old disabled woman in a Renton, Wash. adult family home, and an 81-year-old woman in a Vancouver, Wash. managed care facility.

The recalled bed handles were sold nationwide in home health care stores, drug stores, medical equipment stores, and through home and health care catalogs from January 1994 through December 2007 for about $100. Consumers should immediately stop using all recalled bed handles that were sold without safety retention straps. They should contact Bed Handles Inc. at (800) 725-6903 or online at http://bedhandles.com/recall.html to obtain free safety retention straps, new assembly instructions, and a warning label. The bed handles should only be used with the safety retention straps securely in place to prevent the gap from forming.

The recalled product

Product

Portable bed handles

Manufacturer

Bed Handles Inc., of Blue Springs, Mo.

Category

Consumer Product — Bed Rails

Hazard

• entrapment
• strangulation
• death

Affected units

113,000

Distribution

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