Accidental hypothermia: a potential life-threatening hazard of automobile platform lifts.
The wheelchair/scooter of a patient with a relapsing-remitting form of multiple sclerosis was immobilized after inadvertent slippage of the rear wheels of his scooter off an automobile platform lift during travel. While waiting 45 min for the rescue squad, he developed mild hypothermia that responded to passive external rewarming techniques. This potentially life-threatening injury could have been prevented by using a platform lift equipped with full inboard and outboard roll-stop barriers on the platform.
Woods
J A
JA
Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville 22908, USA.
Stiles
B M
BM
Wright
H R
HR
Morgan
R F
RF
Edlich
R F
RF
D001336:Automobiles; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D014910:Wheelchairs