Patent ID: 7617553

Claim:
An assembly for supporting a patient comprising: a mattress having an upper surface; a patient lifting device for enabling the easy use of a hospital bedpan in combination with the mattress, the patient lifting device further comprising: (a) an inflatable U-shaped tubular bladder positioned within the mattress just below the upper surface and adapted to lift the rectal area of a supine patient on the mattress above a horizontal plane defined by the upper surface of the mattress before inflation of the bladder; (b) an air port in the bladder for inflating and deflating the bladder; and (c) a tether coupled proximate to the terminal ends of the bladder to maintain the shape of the bladder; wherein the combination of the tether and the bladder when inflated defines a cavity sized and configured to accept the bedpan slid underneath the rectal area of the supine patient.