Four people have been charged in the death of a five-year-old American boy who was “incinerated” inside a pressurised oxygen chamber that exploded at a Detroit medical facility earlier this year – with preliminary investigations finding the treatment was “medically unsound”, Michigan’s Attorney-General said.
Thomas Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene on 31 January at the Oxford Centre. AP reports that his mother suffered severe burns while trying to save her boy.
“A single spark apparently ignited into a fully involved fire that claimed Thomas’ life within seconds,” Attorney-General Dana Nessel said.
The centre’s founder and chief executive, Tamela Peterson is charged with second-degree murder. Facility manager Gary Marken and safety manager Gary Mosteller are charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. The operator of the chamber when it exploded, Aleta Moffitt, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false medical information on a medical records chart.
They were arrested on Monday and entered not guilty pleas on Tuesday in court.
Peterson’s bail was set at $2m, $25 0000 each for Marken and Mosteller, and $10 000 for Moffitt.
NBC News reported the family’s attorney as saying the boy received multiple sessions for sleep apnoea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
These conditions aren’t among those approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for marketing of hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment, a fact reiterated by Nessel, who described the boy’s treatment as “unsupported by medical science”.
“Because these treatments were so medically unsound, patient insurance policies would not cover the use of these chambers to treat these conditions,” she said. “This business was a pure cash-flow, for-profit business.”
Hyperbaric therapy delivers pure oxygen to a person’s body at about five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room. The FDA has cleared it to be marketed as safe and effective for 13 listed disorders, including severe burns, decompression sickness and non-healing wounds. The list doesn’t include many additional disorders advertised by the Oxford Centre.
Nessel suggested the boy’s death could have been avoided if safety measures had been followed. She said a maintenance check had not been performed that day, no medical doctor was on-site and the treatment was not performed by a licensed technician.
Experts consulted by investigators reached “horrifying” conclusions, Nessel said: “The Oxford Centre routinely operated sensitive and lethally dangerous hyperbaric chambers beyond their expected service lifetime and in complete disregard of vital safety measures.”
The FDA recommends only using hyperbaric centres inspected and accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. The Oxford Centre doesn’t appear on the society’s February 2025 list of accredited facilities.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Boy (5) killed in hyperbaric chamber explosion
Private hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility now in Western Cape
Hyperbaric oxygen: Clinical trial reverses 2 cellular processes linked to ageing