Medline Industries, the medical supply company based in Northfield, Illinois, is recalling every bed it sells under the Medline brand and leaving the bed market. The October 14, 2026 notice covers its home care, bariatric and long-term care beds, along with hand-control pendants, side rails and other accessories, replacement parts, and order packages that include a bed. Medline says the beds’ electrical components can overheat and catch fire, and that bed accessories carry a risk of entrapment.
The company has not said how many beds are affected. Its list of recalled models runs eight pages, and some of those beds were sold more than five years ago.
What Medline is telling facilities and families to do
- Medline’s notice instructs anyone using one of its beds to:
- Unplug the bed and disconnect any battery packs.
- Use the bed in manual mode only until it is replaced. Power should be reconnected only in an emergency such as choking or CPR, and never through an extension cord.
- Stop using every accessory on the bed, including side rails.
The warnings started last year
This recall is an escalation of one Medline began in fall 2025. The first safety notices covered two lines of home care beds and their hand-control pendants, and they did not tell anyone to stop using the beds. The FDA classified that recall as Class I, its most serious category.
By December 18, 2025, Medline had reported 12 injuries and one death tied to the electrical problem in home care beds, and two injuries and one death tied to accessories Medline had not approved for use with its beds. In February, the FDA recommended keeping certain Medline beds unplugged unless an adjustment needed power. It is not clear whether any of those injuries or deaths happened in a nursing home.
What changed in October is the scope. The recall now reaches every Medline bed, including the long-term care beds used in nursing homes, and the company is leaving the market entirely.
Two years ago, Steve Levin told the Washington Post what bed rail entrapment does to families
In May 2024, Medline recalled about 1.5 million Bed Assist Bar portable bed rails in the United States and Canada. Two women had died after becoming trapped between the rail and the mattress: a 76-year-old at a senior nursing facility in Iowa in 2019 and an 87-year-old at a residential care facility in South Carolina. Medline said the rails in both deaths were not securely attached to the bed. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it was the seventh bed rail recall since 2021, and it has counted at least 284 deaths connected to adult bed rails between 2003 and 2021.
The Washington Post covered that recall and spoke with Levin & Perconti founder and senior partner Steve Levin. Our firm handles bed rail cases as part of its nursing home work.
“You have to imagine your loved one is literally being suffocated in their own bed,” Levin told the Post. “Trapped between the mattress and the bed frame, they just can’t breathe, and they die.”
The advice he gave families then holds now. Call the facility, bring up the recall, and ask about your relative’s mattress and bed rail. “All family members need to be vigilant advocates for their loved ones in a nursing home,” Levin said.
A recall only protects residents if the facility acts on it
Federal rules already put bed safety on the nursing home. Under 42 CFR 483.25(n), a facility has to try appropriate alternatives before it installs a bed rail. If it uses one, it must assess the resident’s risk of entrapment first, review the risks and benefits with the resident or their representative and get consent, make sure the bed fits the resident’s size and weight, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installing and maintaining the rail. Under 42 CFR 483.90(d)(3), it must regularly inspect bed frames, mattresses and rails for places a resident could get trapped, and when those parts are bought separately, make sure they are compatible.
That last requirement matters here. The entrapment risk in Medline’s earlier notices came from using accessories that were not made for its beds. Matching the rail to the bed is the facility’s job.
The recall also leaves facilities with a gap to fill. Bed rails are used to keep residents from falling out of bed and to help them change position. When every rail comes off, the residents who relied on one still need protection from falls, and the facility has to decide what replaces it. The FDA has pointed to alternatives such as roll guards and foam bumpers for residents at higher risk.
Questions to ask your loved one's facility
- Is my loved one’s bed a Medline bed?
- Has it been unplugged, and have the batteries been disconnected?
- Has the side rail been removed? If so, what is the facility using to keep my loved one from falling out of bed?
- How will staff raise or lower the bed while it is in manual mode?
- When will the bed be replaced?
Let Us Help With Your Nursing Home Abuse Claim
If your loved one was burned, trapped, or injured in a fall from a nursing home bed, contact our nursing home abuse attorneys today for a free consultation. Fill out our contact form, call 312-332-2872, or text 844-781-1274. We will listen to your story and help you understand your legal options. You don’t pay unless we win.
