In a heart-wrenching case reported by a coroner, a 39-year-old British woman tragically lost her life when an Ottoman bed malfunctioned, resulting in fatal asphyxiation.
Helen Davey, a beauty salon owner from northeastern England, passed away in June while leaning over the storage compartment of a gas-lift Ottoman bed, as detailed in the coroner’s report by Jeremy Chipperfield, released last week.
Ottoman beds are designed with a lifting mechanism, typically utilizing gas-lift hydraulics, to provide access to the storage space beneath—an appealing option for homeowners wishing to discreetly store bedding or off-season garments.
According to Chipperfield’s findings, the mattress platform on Davey’s bed unexpectedly collapsed, pinning her neck against the upper edge of the bed’s base. “Trapped and unable to escape, she succumbed to positional asphyxia,” the coroner stated, noting that one of the bed’s gas-lift pistons was faulty.
Davey’s daughter, Elizabeth, discovered her mother in this tragic situation. In a statement read in court, she recounted the harrowing moment: “When I went upstairs, the bedroom door was wide open, and I saw her lying on her back with her head underneath the bed.”
Elizabeth described the scene further: “Her legs were bent as if she were trying to rise. I dropped everything I was holding and attempted to lift the bed off her head. It no longer had a soft close and could fall heavily if released. It was incredibly difficult for me to lift it to pull her out. I managed to prop it up with my foot.”
She recalled the distressing sight of her mother’s blue-tinged face, marked with an indentation from the bed frame. “I managed to pull her free but feared she was already gone since she made no sound. I began CPR and realized she wasn’t breathing,” Elizabeth recounted.
In a letter addressed to Britain’s business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, Chipperfield expressed grave concerns regarding the potential for similar incidents in the future unless preventive measures are enacted. He highlighted the dangers posed by defective gas piston mechanisms in beds, describing it as a pressing matter of public safety.
Under UK law, coroners are mandated to report to the appropriate agency when they believe actions should be taken to avert future fatalities.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), a staggering 147 individuals in the UK died from falls related to beds in 2022, alongside another 18 fatalities caused by accidental suffocation or strangulation while in bed, as per their analysis of mortality data compiled by government sources.
