Little League Baseball Removes Bunk Beds for World Series After Player's Serious Injury Last Year
Easton Oliverson "will have issues the remainder of his life," his family's attorney said on the boy's 13th birthday in April
In the wake of a bunk bed accident that seriously injured a 12-year-old boy last year, Little League baseball has announced that it will only use single beds at this year’s World Series.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we placed all beds individually on the floor during last year’s World Series, and in preparation for the 2023 Little League International Tournament, Little League decided to provide its participants with single, one-level beds for all of their player housing at each of its tournament locations, including those in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where the dormitories can accommodate all 14 single beds,” Little League International said in a statement on Monday to the Associated Press.
Last year, Easton Oliverson fractured his skull and cheekbone when he fell from the top of a bunk bed at the dormitory where he and his teammates were staying ahead of their first game in the summer classic.
Related: Parents of Little Leaguer Who Injured Head in Bunk Bed Fall Sues League, Bed Manufacturer
Oliverson was airlifted to Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville and underwent emergency surgery and was placed in the intensive care unit.
He was discharged after a nearly two-week-long hospital stay, but Oliverson’s recovery back home in Utah has been lengthy.
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Attorney Ken Fulginiti told NBC News last year that Easton had undergone three operations total and battled a staph infection. "He's not doing well," Fulginiti said. "The more recent development, after a third craniotomy, is seizures. It's been a long road."
In the family’s most recent update, shared on the boy’s 13th birthday in April, his parents Jace and Nancy Oliverson shared via Fulginiti that their son “will have issues the remainder of his life,” according to Pennlive.com.
Related: Little Leaguer, 12, Heads Home After Emergency Surgery for Brain Injury After Falling from Bunk Bed
The announcement from Little League baseball came two days before the World Series begins on Wednesday and nearly a year after Oliverson’s parents filed a negligence lawsuit against the bed's manufacturer, Savoy Contract Furniture, and Little League baseball. In the lawsuit, the parents claim that there was no bed rail on the top bunk, according to the Associated Press.
Following Easton’s injury last year, Little League removed all bunks in the dorms and placed each bed frame “individually on the floor.”
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