Woman dies after getting trapped in ottoman bed, coroner says

(Gray News) – A woman in the United Kingdom died after an ottoman bed fell and trapped her, according to a coroner.

Helen Davey, 39, was leaning over the storage area of the bed when the mattress platform unexpectedly came down and trapped her neck.

Ottoman beds have a base that can be raised to access a storage space underneath. The base is usually raised using gas-lift hydraulics.

Davey’s daughter Elizabeth said she found her mom after coming home from a hair appointment, according to The Northern Echo.

Elizabeth told the court in a statement that she went upstairs and found her mother “lying on her back with her head under the bed” and her legs bent as if she tried to get up.

Elizabeth said she tried to lift the top of the bed off her mother but the bed was “no longer a soft close and could easily fall.”

“It was so heavy for me to lift it up and try to pull her out,” she said.

Elizabeth said Davey’s face was blue and there was an “indent on her neck from the frame.”

Elizabeth said she noticed her mom was not breathing and started CPR until paramedics arrived.

Paramedics attempted to save her, but Davey was pronounced dead at the scene, according to The Northern Echo.

Davey died of “positional asphyxia,” according to coroner Jeremy Chipperfield. Her death was also ruled accidental.

He noted that the bed probably pushed Davey down and she ended up on her back when she was struggling to get up.

Chipperfield said one of the bed’s two gas-lift pistons was “defective.”

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