Cage bed

Cage bed for the mentally ill, 1910, Helsinki University Museum

A cage bed is a bed with either metal bars or netting designed to restrain a person of any given age, including children, within the boundaries of the bed. They were once commonplace in Central and Eastern Europe and used to restrain disabled people, including autistic people and those with learning difficulties, epilepsy, hyperactivity and mental health problems in psychiatric institutions.^[1] As of 2014^[update], the Mental Disability Advocacy Center says cage beds are used in Greece, the Czech Republic and Romania.^[2]

Psychiatrists in the Czech Republic previously defended the use of the beds in social care^[3] but their use in children's care homes was later banned in the country due to international pressure,^[4] and an appeal by J. K. Rowling, who later went on to found Lumos, which promotes an end to the institutionalisation of children worldwide.^[5]

See also

• Medical restraint
• Sedation

References

1. "Q&A: Cage beds". BBC News. 15 January 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
2. Hadjimatheou, Chloe (14 November 2014). "The disabled children locked up in cages". BBC News. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
3. Pfeiffer, Jan (Oct 11, 2004). "Rage Against the Cage". Time Europe. Archived from the original on January 23, 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
4. "Filming reveals Czech children still caged". BBC. 15 January 2008. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
5. Callaghan, Louise (29 June 2014). "Czech hospital patients in cage beds". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on Nov 29, 2021.