Patent ID: 6966081

Claim:
A system for transporting and positioning a patient from a movable transportation device onto a laterally located operating room table, the patient being disposed in a supine position on the transportation device, the transportation device being arranged to be located immediately laterally of the operating room table, said system comprising a first inflatable member and a second inflatable member, said first inflatable member having a generally horizontally oriented patient supporting surface, a lateral inside edge and being arranged to be located on the movable transport device with the patient in a supine position on said patient supporting surface of said first inflatable member, said second inflatable member having a generally horizontally oriented patient receiving surface, a lateral inside edge and being arranged to be located on the operating room table and releasably coupled to said first inflatable member when the transportation device is located immediately laterally of the operating room table, said first inflatable member being arranged to be inflated to rotate the supine patient about an axis extending generally parallel to said lateral inside edge of said first inflatable member through an arc slightly in excess of 90 degrees, said second inflatable member being arranged to rotate said patient receiving surface through an arc slightly less than 90 degrees, whereupon the patient is transferred to said patient receiving surface of said second inflatable member in a prone orientation, said second inflatable member being arranged to thereafter be rotated back to its initial horizontal orientation, whereupon the patient is prone on the operating room table.