Arjo, Inc. today announced that it is voluntarily conducting a Class I recall of its MINSTREL Patient Lifts because of mechanical problems that could result in serious patient injury.

The device is a battery-powered patient lift. Patient lifts are intended to be used to lift and transport patients from one location to another, such as from a bed to a bath. There are two mechanical problems for which the MINSTREL patient lift is currently being recalled. The first involves the hanger bar detaching from the lift, resulting in the patient falling to the ground because of a missing spring washer. The second problem involves a bolt in the foot pedal assembly becoming loose, allowing the foot pedal assembly to fall off the lift. This results in the lift becoming unstable and the patient possibly falling.

The Class 1 recall is for two models (about 116 lifts in total) of the MINSTREL Patient Lifts: HMB001-US (without scale) and HMB002-US (with scale). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a Class I recall as a situation in which there is reasonable probability that use of the product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.