Throughout the state of Georgia, many elderly individuals live in nursing homes. These facilities utilize many ways to keep their patients safe. One way to protect nursing home patients is with a set of bed safety rails. Unfortunately, these types of rails can still come with a lot of risks.
A way to keep some patients safe
For a multitude of reasons, some people in a nursing home aren’t supposed to get out of bed. Oftentimes, patients must stay in bed to avoid falling over and hurting themselves. In the past, a nursing home might use physical restraints to keep patients in bed. Over time, the use of physical restraints became understandably frowned upon. While bed safety rails are more humane than using straps to secure a patient, these items can still contribute to nursing home negligence.
The risks of bed safety rails
In most cases, bed safety rails work well to keep a patient in bed. However, there are also many risks associated with bed safety rails, including:
- Strangling or suffocating a patient who gets stuck between the rails and their bed
- Bruising and cutting a patient’s skin
- Confining patients who should be able to move freely
- Worsening fall injuries after a patient climbs over their bed rails
- Inducing agitated patient behavior
- Causing nursing home patients to feel unnecessarily isolated
To summarize, there can be many risks associated with bed safety rails. If you suspect that your loved one is a victim of nursing home negligence, it could be time to contact an attorney. By doing this, you’ll have someone on your side that can help get to the bottom of suspected negligence in a nursing home.