Bed Handles Recalled After 3 Deaths

May 20, 2014 — Bed Handles Inc. has announced a voluntary recall of about 113,000 adult portable bed handles after receiving three reports of deaths that occurred when elderly women died after become trapped between the mattress and the bed handle.

Three years ago, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen called for a ban on these bed handles, citing four deaths.

Victims included an elderly woman in Minnesota who was in an assisted-living facility, a 41 year-old disabled woman who in an adult family home in Washington, and an 81 year-old woman in a managed care facility in Washington.

According to the recall notification from the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC):

“When attached to an adult’s bed without the use of safety retention straps, the handle can shift out of place creating a dangerous gap between the bed handle and the side of the mattress. This poses a serious risk of entrapment, strangulation and death.”

The L-shaped bed handles are made of 3/4-inch tubular steel, measure 20-inches wide, 16-20 inches tall, and have 3-ft. poles that extend under the mattress. The recall affects products that were sold from 1994 through 2007. These products do not have safety straps to secure the bed handle to the bed frame to prevent the handle from shifting out of place and creating a dangerous gap.

Recalled models include:

• Original Bedside Assistant® (BA10W)
• Travel Handles™ (BA11W)
• Adjustable Bedside Assistant® (AJ1)

Customers should immediately stop using bed handles that were sold without safety retention straps. The manufacturer is offering free safety retention straps to secure the bed handle to the bed frame, new assembly and installation instructions, and a warning label.

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