OCC News Release - PSA Therapeutic Air Mattresses
Death Investigations
News Releases
Public Safety Message from the Chief Coroner for Ontario
The use of therapeutic air mattresses may cause entrapment dangers. They are currently in use in hospitals and long-term care facilities in the prevention of compression/bed sores.
Therapeutic air mattresses are a component of preventive skin care (avoiding pressure ulcers) in persons who are bed-bound. They partially deflate and inflate in a programmed sequence to relieve pressure on the skin. However, our investigations have revealed that in certain, albeit uncommon circumstances, the patient can become trapped between the mattress and the bedrails or bed frame.