Restraining patients kills seven

At least seven people have been killed in nursing homes this year after being tied to their beds or chairs, the health inspectorate told the Brabants Dagblad on Tuesday.

Most of the victims died after becoming entangled in the restraints.
‘Normally there are two deaths a year,’ spokesman Wouter van der Horst told the paper. He did not know why numbers are up so sharply in 2008.
A health inspectorate report at the end of last year said that all nursing homes use restraints to keep residents in bed or to stop them wandering off. Some 10% of patients develop bruising or other injuries as a result.