TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Hospital bed related fatalities: a review
JO  - Medicine, science, and the law
A1  - Piette, Michel H. A.
A1  - Van Varenbergh, Dirk
A1  - Lambert, Willy E.
A1  - Vandekerkhove, Bart N. W.
A1  - De Letter, Els A.
SP  - 37
EP  - 50
VL  - 48
IS  - 1
N2  - All medico-legal cases of unexpected death during hospitalisation or accommodation in rest or nursing homes, which were investigated at the Department of Forensic Medicine during a 30-year-period, have been reviewed. In the majority of cases, the fatal outcome was bedrail or restraint related, but falls out of bed or from a patient hoist lift can also trigger a death. As expected, the manner of death was mainly accidental. In about 70% of cases, mechanical asphyxia (such as smothering and thoraco-abdominal compression) was substantiated as the mechanism of death. A substantial number of the patients had important medical antecedents, such as cognitive impairment due to cerebro-vascular accidents. In about half of the cases, human negligence was clearly related to the event whereas in only 15% of cases was there a technical mistake. We believe that some sudden and unexpected fatalities, due to physical restraint or other devices (such as a patient hoist lift), are under-reported because of the medico-legal implications. However, reporting such events could induce better precautions and prevent recurrences. Therefore, this study may be important not only for forensic pathologists, but also for a larger group of social workers.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0025-8024
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -