★★★★★
Dear Earth Clinic,
I just wanted to share information on safety when sleeping in a bed. I only know of 2 people that died in this situation but the deaths are horrifying! This happened to my husband's uncle:
The family had not heard from their Uncle David for a few days which was unlike him not to call a relative so a family member stopped by his house to see how David was. Uncle David did not answer the door nor did he respond to calls from the relative so the relative entered the house. He found uncle David dead on the floor of his bedroom with his head in a large coffee can and his room was totally destroyed! The police were called and at first it was thought that Uncle David had been murdered!
But that was not the case. Like many older people Uncle David would place a large coffee can next to his bed to use as a spittoon. What happened is that Uncle David leaned out of bed to spit and his body slipped down and his head went into the coffee can! Uncle David obviously could not get head out of the can and was suffocating! He destroyed his entire room trying to free his head from the can and could not get his head out and suffocated to death! I have only read of another elderly woman this happened to! She too suffocated only in her case it was a small trash can she used. Her head entered the small trash can and she could not get out of it.
As a child I still remember that my own Grandfather also used a large coffee can for a spittoon Only he (thank God) never slipped into it.
Please advise your loved ones to use a large device as a spittoon if they use one at night.
Thank you, Dee.
