Staff ReporterA 39-year-old woman has died after becoming trapped in a faulty Ottoman bed at her home in Seaham, County Durham.
Helen Davey, a mother of two, was found unresponsive by her 19-year-old daughter on 7 June. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
At an inquest on Monday, the coroner ruled that Mrs Davey’s death was accidental.
The coroner’s report stated: “The deceased was leaning over the storage area of an Ottoman-styled ‘gas-lift bed’ when the mattress platform descended unexpectedly, trapping her neck against the upper surface of the side panel of the bed’s base.”
It added: “Unable to free herself, she died of positional asphyxia. One of the two gas-lift pistons was defective.”
Jeremy Chipperfield, the coroner, warned that unless action was taken, there was a risk of future deaths occurring.
According to local reports, Mrs Davey’s daughter found her mother and attempted to lift the bed.
“I managed to lift it up enough to use my foot to support it,” she told the inquest. “I noticed that her face was blue with a clear indent on her neck from the frame.”
The daughter immediately began CPR, but Mrs Davey was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived.
