US Patent Issued to Hill-Rom Services on March 31 for "Surface adaptation for patient proning" (American, French Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,589,042, issued on March 31, was assigned to Hill-Rom Services Inc. (Batesville, Ind.).

"Surface adaptation for patient proning" was invented by Marlene Petton (Auray, France), Kathryn R. Smith (Batesville, Ind.), Bryan Weidman (Columbus, Ind.), Neal Wiggermann (Batesville, Ind.), Robert Mark Zerhusen (Cincinnati) and Jie Zhou (Batesville, Ind.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A patient proning system includes a surface assembly configured to be positioned on a frame of a support apparatus. The surface assembly includes a pneumatic system that includes bladders arranged in multiple zones and a pump in fluid communication with the bladders...