Abstract:
A patient garment for wearing during treatment or examination involving insertion of tubing at a body site which is suitable for street wear. A plurality of openable flaps allow access to particular body sites and loops attached to the garment adjacent each opening secure the tubing in position.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS 
   This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/626,224 filed on Nov. 8, 2004. 

   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention concerns garments to be worn by patients while receiving medical treatment or while being examined and more particularly, in receiving treatments involving tubes inserted into the patient&#39;s body, such as for dialysis, catheters, etc. The need to obtain access to certain parts sites on a patient&#39;s body for examination or treatment requires that a patient wear a hospital gown. Such gowns are not suitable for street wear and do not allow a patient to be inhibited while moving about a hospital or other facility since they have large openings enabling ready access by medical personnel for examination or treatments. It would be desirable if such garments could be practically worn when commuting to the hospital or other medical facility to save time. 
   Tubes are typically taped to be held in position, but this has been found to be ineffective as the tape comes loose as the patient moves about. While garments have been developed which have improved the street wearability of the garments, the problem of the tubes attached while moving about has not been satisfactorily solved. 
   It is the object of the present invention to provide a garment which is suitable as street wear and also secures the tubes in position so as to allow the patient to move about freely. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The above object and other objects which will become apparent upon a reading of the following specification and claims are achieved by a patient garment which is conventional in appearance and substantially free from exposed openings but which has a plurality of openable flaps allowing openings to be formed over particular body sites such as the upper chest, arms, inner thighs of each leg or groin. The flaps may comprise covering panels mounted over openings in the garment which can be folded away after disengaging a fastening such as mating hook and loop strips to obtain access to the body sites. 
   Adjacent each openable panel is one or more tube holder loops formed by strips attached at each end to form a loop through which the tubes are routed to be held in position as the patient moves about. The straps can be sewn or detachably attached by fasteners such as mating hook and loop patches or strips. 

   
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a pictorial view of a person wearing a patient garment according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  is an enlarged front view of a top piece of the patient garment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  is an enlarged fragmentary front view of a bottom piece of the patient garment shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4A  is an enlarged fragmentary pictorial view of a region of the patient garment having one of the tube holder loop attached with tube segments shown held therein. 
       FIG. 4B  is an enlarged pictorial view of the loop shown in  FIG. 4A  which is opened to allow a tube to be easily removed or emplaced. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology will be employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodiment described in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it is to be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and should not be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking many forms and variations within the scope of the appended claims. 
   Referring to the drawings, a patient garment  10  according to the invention comprises a two piece pant suit having a top piece  12  and a patents bottom  14 . The patient garment  10  is conventionally configured but has a plurality of openable flaps including flaps  16 ,  18 ,  20 . 
   The top piece  12  is shown in  FIG. 2  in further detail, and includes an upper torso pullover with sleeves. An openable flap  16  is shown located over the upper chest. The flap  16  includes a fabric panel  22  sewn to the garment across the bottom adjacent the bottom of an opening  24  and having mating hook and loop strips  26 A,  26 B located on respective sides of the panel  22  and opening  24 . This enables the panel  22  to be folded down to expose the opening  24  to allow access to the wearer&#39;s body at the site at the opening  24 , as for insertion of tubes  28 . 
   According to the present invention a series of loops  30 ,  32 ,  34  preferably openable are arranged from a point adjacent the opening  24  up to the top of the shoulder and down the sleeve  36  on the same side as the opening  24 . The tubes  28  are routed through the strap loops  30 ,  32 ,  34  as shown to secure the tubes in proper position and allow the patient some freedom of movement without creating a danger that the tubes  28  will be pulled out by his or her motion. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , the bottom piece  14  resembles a pair of pants, but has a pair of openable flaps  18 ,  20 , each including a fabric panel  35 ,  37  having a bottom edge sewn to one of the pants legs adjacent a respective opening  36 ,  38 . Strips  40 A, B carrying hook and loop features enable the panels  35 ,  37  to normally be held in position over the respective openings  35 ,  37  but able to be folded back when access to the wearer&#39;s body sites at those openings  35 ,  37  is necessary for insertion of tubes for dialysis or some other treatment or examination purposes. 
   A single strap loop  44 ,  46  is located above each openable flap  18 ,  20 , each comprised of strips  48 ,  50  having patches formed with mating hook and loop features to enable tubes to be held in position above a respective access opening  35 ,  37 . 
   Additional strap loops may be provided. Also, as seen in  FIG. 1  additional openable flaps can be provided, as the flap  52  with strap loop  53  over the groin area. Or, the patient&#39;s garment  10  could have an openable flap  54  with strap loop  55  on the upper arm and a second right side openable flap  17  on the upper chest. 
   The hook and loop fasteners can be replaced with straps, buttons, etc.