by 
Mawgan
ANSWERS: 3
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Because the person occupying it is laying in an fully extended stretched out position.
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Because that is how they started. 2 poles with cloth between where the patient could lie in comparative comfort while being carried. There have been a lot of 'product development' since then, but the name lingers.
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A stretcher is commonly the term used for a means of stretching canvas on a frame for painting. Stretchers used for carrying patients were of a similar format, canvase stretched on a light frame - usually poles which means the bed can be folded. I had also once heard the following, but cannot find any source to substantiate it: In the old days, a bed was known as a stretcher. A bed could be made from a square of wood, across which strings were woven. These strings would often come loose with time, and would need to be "stretched" to make them taut again.
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