Montreal family wants answers after 93-year-old woman pinned inside motorized Murphy bed
Local company that sold bed, Lit Mural, says it 'can't understand' how it happened
Carol Smith can still hear the sound of the Murphy bed's electronic motor ringing in her head.
Smith says she keeps reliving the incident that put her in the hospital just days after her 93rd birthday in late December. She'd been staying with her daughter and son-in-law in Montreal for the holidays and went to sleep in a wall bed, also known as a Murphy bed, they'd bought for guests from Lit Mural in 2020.
Smith says she awoke to the sound of a motor and the sensation of the bed closing up into the wall.
"At first, it didn't register and then suddenly it registered with me, 'I've got to get out of this thing,'" said Smith.
John Hanrahan, Smith's son-in-law, says the bed's remote control was on a dresser across the room. Smith said she tried to get out of bed to get it, calling for her daughter.
"Suddenly, I couldn't move at all. And then I must have passed out because I could feel the bed starting to crunch me," said Smith.
Luckily, Hanrahan was working on the first floor and heard a faint cry.
"This was very early in the morning," recalls Hanrahan. "My wife, Caroline, thought maybe it was just nightmares."
Caroline rushed to the guest room to check on her mother. She found the bed open just a crack — as if something was preventing it from closing. Something — or someone.
"I thought, 'Oh my God, she must be in there.' And I'm calling and there's nothing," said Smith's daughter. Grabbing the remote, she pressed it, but the bed didn't open.
"I just started pushing all the buttons and nothing happened. So I ran round to the side of the bed, and I just threw the remote down on the floor and grabbed the end of the bed to try and pull it down. I couldn't budge it."
She yelled for her husband to come help.
John says he grabbed the black metal bar at the top of the bed and pulled down on the frame with all his might, breaking the bed's pistons. It came crashing down on top of him and onto the floor.
'It's just taken a lot of life out of me'
Caroline says they found her mother at the head of the bed, curled up in a fetal position, unresponsive.
"She was grey, and she wasn't breathing," said Caroline. "I just freaked out."
"I started crying and yelling at her, 'Don't go! Wake up! Wake up!'"
Caroline says she and her daughter started CPR and were able to get Smith breathing, while John called 911. An ambulance took the elderly woman to LaSalle Hospital, where she was treated for two broken ribs. Weeks later she was diagnosed with a clavicle separated from the shoulder from the incident.
All these months later, Smith says the incident has taken a physical and emotional toll. Her recovery has been slow.
"I can't put a coat on on my own. I need help with somebody to move my arms for me," she said. "It's just taken a lot of life out of me."
"I was lucky in a way that I had passed out because I don't remember the worst part of it. The family had to endure the worst part."
The Hanrahans want to ensure nothing like this happens again. Within days of the incident, the family filed a report with Health Canada based on their detailed, handwritten notes.
"I don't understand how the bed went up by itself, and I don't understand why it wouldn't have stopped when it should have detected somebody in the bed, even though [my mom] doesn't weigh very much," said Caroline.
"It's funny: when we bought the bed we made a joke about, you know, did they ever go up by themselves and squish anybody? And they laughed and they said, 'Oh no, that's just a joke. This would never happen.'"
Montreal company doesn't know what happened
Pierre Brunelle, the former owner of Lit Mural, heard about the incident through Health Canada in January.
He spoke with CBC on behalf of the company because he is the person who sold the bed to the Hanrahans.
As soon as Lit Mural heard about Smith's injuries, Brunelle says, they stopped selling the motorized model, performing tests on the one in the showroom. He said the Hanrahan family did not contact Lit Mural about the incident.
"We put weights and people in it," said Brunelle. They could not get it to spontaneously lift.
Brunelle says Lit Mural doesn't usually test the motors because they are made in China and certified by a German company. He says the manufacturer, too, was concerned.
"I never spoke with him before the accident, because he makes [motors] for various companies. But when the accident happened, he was very worried," said Brunelle.
Brunelle said he has never seen a Murphy bed close on its own. They're designed so that the remote control must be continually pressed as the bed rises, which takes about 90 seconds.
He said even if the two motors operating the Hanrahan's bed were both defective, they would normally just turn off. If there is frequency interference with the remote, that, too, would prevent the bed from closing.
"No one believes the story could have happened like that. We don't doubt that the woman was injured, but there is something missing," said Brunelle.
"We simply don't understand it."
Health Canada investigation underway
Brunelle said Lit Mural only started selling the beds again in March, because Health Canada said they did not have to stop selling them.
Health Canada told CBC in an email it does not discuss incidents under investigation but that the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act prohibits the manufacture, importation, advertisement or sale of any consumer product that is a "danger to human health or safety."
Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the Quebec consumer rights group, Option Consommateurs, says filing a report with Health Canada is a good first step.
"By reporting the incident to Health Canada the consumer can, at least, set the grounds if there are further incidents in those situations," said De Bellefeuille.
"When it comes to the Consumer Protection Act, there are basic rules that say that when a person buys something it should function as it is supposed to."
She said Option Consommateur has not received any complaints about defective motorized Murphy beds.
John Hanrahan says the family last heard from the Health Canada officer assigned to this case in April.
He says since the incident, the spare bedroom in their home has been "frozen in time" because they were advised to leave everything exactly as it was the morning of the accident.
"I'm frustrated that I've not gotten any feedback [from Health Canada] about what to do about the bed or about Carol or whether there's any legal recourse," he said.
"It was just some kind of nightmare."
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With files from Valeria Cori-Manocchio