Safety indicium to protect body extremities

• US 6,579,252 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2002
• Issued: 06/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey Lloyd
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey Lloyd
• Inventors: Lloyd, Jeffrey, Gordon, Timothy
• Primary Examiner(s): Lucchesi, Nicholas D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hamilton, Lalita M.
• Application Number:
  US10/109,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20020103452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 445 Days
• Field of Search: 245/5-4-7, 604/289, 604/304, 604/308, 604/312, 602/1, 602/3, 602/5, 602/20, 602/23, 602/41, 602/60-63, 128/845-846, 128/856, 128/869
• US Class Current: 602/60
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 15/004 Bandage protectors

Abstract

A method to and apparatus to prevent injury and infection of a health-care recipient as a result of anticipated possible complications associated with any ones of a predetermined plurality of health-care procedures. The invention provides specific unambiguous warning indications prohibiting one or more of the aforementioned procedures on the outer surface of a physical barrier which is placed onto said health-care recipient in such a way that the indications are clearly visible, or alternatively affixed as a decal to the skin of the patent. The presence of said barrier is designed to significantly interferes with any reasonable application said plurality of procedures on said recipient.

Claims

1. A method to provide a specific warning in a manner to visually preclude a specific prohibited physical treatment of a patient, the method comprising:

providing a visual warning of the prohibited physical treatement on a decal;

placing the decal over a body part of the patient in such a way that subsequent to the placing, the warning on the decal is visible to display the warning to any person attempting the prohibited treatment of the body part.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein said warning is specific to a medical condition and alerts against the prohibited physical treatment.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein said warning additionally comprises at least one of a graphic image, a color warning, an icon warning and a textual warning.

4. The method as in claim 3, wherein said warning is a textual warning presented in a plurality of languages.

5. The method as in claim 1, further comprising providing a plurality of separate warnings on said decal.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of placing further comprises attaching said decal to cover a portion of clothing on said patient.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of placing further comprises affixing said decal to skin of said patient.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of placing said decal further comprises encircling said warning decal around a portion of the patient.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the portion of the patient is at least a portion of one of a torso, a limb, a neck, a head and extremities.

10. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality separate ones of said decals, each with a separate respective warning against a respective prohibited physical treatment of a patient; and

placing said plurality of separate ones of said decals in a plurality of separate locations on the body of the patient in a manner to preclude the respective physical access to each of the separate locations to alert against physical access at said respective plurality of locations on said patient.

11. The method as in claim 1, wherein the presence of said decal significantly interferes with any reasonable application of the prohibited physical treatment on said patient.

12. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

providing said decal with a plurality of separate warnings against a respective plurality of separate prohibited physical treatments; and

placing said decal carrying said plurality of separate warnings to at least in part inhibit access via said body part for each of said respective prohibited physical treatments for said patient.

13. The method as in claim 12, wherein said prohibited physical treatments are at least one of drawing blood, injections, pressure applications, physical contact and moisture application.

14. The method as in claim 1, wherein the decal is removable.

15. The method as in claim 1, wherein the decal is comprised of at least one of a temporary die, ink and paint.

16. The method as in claim 1, herein the decal is a single-use adhesive decal.

17. A method to provide a warning to preclude a prohibited physical treatment of a patient, the method comprising:

affixing a warning decal to the skin over a body part of the patient so as to inhibit access to prevent the prohibited physical treatment; and

positioning the decal in such a way that subsequent to the placing, the warning on the decal is visible to display the warning to any person attempting the access of the body part to provide a warning against the prohibited physical treatment.

18. The method as in claim 17, wherein said warning is specific to a medical condition and alerts against the prohibited physical treatment.

19. The method as in claim 17, wherein said warning additionally comprises at least one of a graphic image, a color warning, an icon warning and a textual warning.

20. The method as in claim 19, wherein said warning is a textual warning presented in a plurality of languages.

21. The method as in claim 17, further comprising the method of providing a plurality of separate warnings on said warning decal.

22. The method as in claim 17, wherein the step of placing said warning indicia further comprises the method of encircling said warning decal around a portion of the patient.

23. The method as in claim 22, wherein the portion of the patient is at least a portion of one of a torso, a limb, a neck, a head and extremities.

24. The method as in claim 17, further comprising:

providing a plurality of separate ones of said warning decals each with a separate respective warning against a respective prohibited physical treatment of a patient; and

positioning and placing said plurality of separate ones of said warning decals in a plurality of locations in a manner to alert against the respective physical treatment at said respective plurality of locations on said patient.

25. The method as in claim 24, wherein the presence of said warning decal significantly interferes with and precludes any reasonable application of the prohibited physical treatment on said patient.

26. The method as in claim 17, further comprising:

providing said warning decal with a plurality of separate warnings against a respective plurality of separate prohibited physical treatments; and

positioning and placing said warning decal carrying said plurality of separate warnings to at least in part inhibit access for each of said respective separate prohibited physical treatments for said patient.

27. The method as in claim 26, wherein said prohibited physical treatments are at least one of drawing blood, injections, pressure applications, physical contact and moisture application.

28. The method as in claim 17, wherein the decal is removable.

29. The method as in claim 17, wherein the decal is comprised of at least one of a temporary die, ink and paint.

30. The method as in claim 17, wherein the decal is a single-use adhesive decal.

31. A system for precluding a prohibited physical treatment of a patient, the system comprising:

a decal, having a warning thereupon, affixable to the skin over a body part, of the patient to inhibit access to prevent the prohibited physical treatment;

wherein the decal is positioned, placed and affixed, in such a way that subsequent to the placing, the warning on the decal is visible to display the warning to any person attempting the access of the body part.

32. The system as in claim 31, wherein said warning is specific to a medical condition and alerts against the prohibited physical treatment.

33. The system as in claim 31, wherein said warning additionally comprises at least one of a graphic image, a color warning, an icon warning and a textual warning.

34. The system as in claim 33, wherein said warning is a textual warning presented in a plurality of languages.

35. The system as in claim 31, wherein there are a plurality of separate warnings on said warning decal.

36. The system as in claim 31, wherein the decal is encircled around a portion of the patient.

37. The system as in claim 36, wherein the portion of the patient is at least a portion of one of a torso, a limb, a neck, a head and extremities.

38. The system as in claim 31, further comprising:

a plurality of separate ones of said warning decals each with a separate respective warning against a respective separate prohibited physical treatment of a patient;

wherein said plurality of separate ones of the warning decals are positioned in a plurality of locations in a manner to provide said separate respective warnings at said plurality of locations on said respective plurality of said separate ones of said warning decals in such a way that subsequent to the placing, the warning on the decal is visible to display the warning to any person attempting the access of the body part against the respective prohibited physical treatment.

39. The system as in claim 31, wherein the presence of said warning decal significantly interferes with any reasonable application of the prohibited physical treatment on said patient.

40. The system as in claim 31,

wherein said warning decal provides a plurality of separate warnings against a respective plurality of prohibited physical treatments;

and

wherein the decal carrying said plurality of separate warnings is positioned in such a way that subsequent to the placing, the warning on the decal is visible to display the warning to any person attempting the access of the body part.

41. The system as in claim 40, wherein said prohibited physical treatments are at least one of drawing blood, injections, pressure applications, physical contact and moisture application.

42. The system as in claim 31, wherein the decal is removable.

43. The system as in claim 31, wherein the decal is comprised of at least one of a temporary die, ink and paint.

44. The system as in claim 31, wherein the decal is comprised of a single-use adhesive decal.