Exclusive: Senior dies after getting wedged between bed rail and mattress
Posted August 9, 2017 5:34 pm.
Last Updated August 9, 2017 6:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The coroner’s office is investigating after a 92-year-old woman was found dead at a Markham nursing home.
It happened on Sunday at the Yee Hong Nursing home in Markham.
The Centre’s CEO Eric Hong confirmed the woman’s head got lodged between the mattress and the rail that was supposed to protect her from falling out of bed.
Hong said the woman was being closely monitored and was checked on about 30 minutes before she was discovered dead.
An advocate for the elderly said this death is just another reason why bed rails should never be used as restraints.
“[Bed rails] are being used to prevent people from getting in or out of bed as opposed to being an assist,” Jane Meadus with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly explained.
“The problem is that when you have someone with dementia they don’t understand the rails and they try to get in and out and they can get caught on them, they can be asphyxiated, they can be strangled with bed sheets getting caught around them, they can break legs, hips.”
Meadus said the safety of bed rails has been an ongoing issue.
Health Canada has been posting safety alerts dating back to 2008.
The most recent alert was posted in April, warning that in the last five years there have been 58 incidents of patient entrapment in hospital beds, including 11 deaths.
In the United States, the FDA goes one step further, instructing that adult bed rails should not be used as a restraint.
The agency added that they are intended to be assistive and should be used to facilitate mobility for those who need assistance getting in and out of bed or repositioning in bed.
In an email sent to CityNews, a spokesperson for the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care said this incident is being taken very seriously.
“The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care takes incidents involving the injury or death of a resident very seriously,” the statement read.
“The ministry is aware of the incident and an inspection is underway. We are unable to comment on the details of the incident at this time.”
