Adult Portable Bed Rail Recall Issued Following Death of 66-Year-Old Man at Residential Care Facility

Federal safety officials are warning healthcare workers and families to immediately stop using more than 200,000 Medical King bed assist rails, due to design problems that may create serious entrapment and suffocation risks, which have already resulted in at least one death.

Bed assist rails are portable devices that attach to adult patients’ beds to provide safety and support in medical and caregiving settings, such as hospitals, nursing homes and in-home care. These patients are often bedridden or have limited mobility, but the portable bed rails can create a dangerous gap that may pose serious and life-threatening risks.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the Medical King Bed Assist Rail recall on November 14, indicating that patients may become trapped within the rail, or between the rail and the mattress, which may cause them to suffocate.

Medical King has received one report of a death linked to the recalled bed rails. The incident occurred in November 2023, involving a 66-year-old man in a South Carolina residential care facility, who died after becoming trapped between the mattress and the bed rail.

The recalled bed rails are not labeled with model numbers or brand names. However, three separate models are included under the recall:

• Bed Assist Rail with Adjustable Heights, model number 7007
• Bed Assist Rail with Adjustable Heights, model number 7057
• Bed Assist Rail Without Legs, model number 7037

Approximately 222,000 of the recalled Medical King Bed Assist Rails were sold through Amazon, Walmart, Target Plus, eBay, Kohls and the Medical King website from January 2020 through March 2024 for about $40.

Customers are being instructed to immediately stop using the recalled bed rails and to contact Medical King to receive a free repair kit or a replacement bed rail, depending on the model.

Any incidents related to the Medical King bed rail recall can be reported to the CPSC at www.SaferProducts.gov.

Bed Assist Rail Risks

This is not the first time that a large-scale recall of portable adult bed rails has been issued due to dangerous and life-threatening design problems. CPSC data has indicated there were 284 entrapment deaths involving adult portable bed rails between January 2003 and December 2021, many of which led to recalls.

In May 2024, more than 1.5 million Medline portable bed rails were recalled following two deaths, including one in Iowa and a second in South Carolina.

This recall occurred almost one year after the CPSC announced new federal mandatory safety standards for adult portable bed rails on July 6, 2023, which  established required performance criteria and testing procedures to reduce incidents of falls, entrapment and other potentially fatal hazards linked to the devices. The new standards overrode previous guidelines for the medical device industry, which were only voluntary.