Four people have been charged in connection to the death of a 5-year-old boy after a hyperbaric chamber exploded in Michigan.
Thomas Cooper was pronounced dead at the Oxford Center in Troy on Jan. 31. His mother was also injured while standing next to the chamber and trying to save her son.
“This tragedy could have been prevented if proper safety protocols were followed,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a news release. “Instead, deliberate negligence and a blatant disregard for safety cost a child his life.”
The center’s owner and Chief Executive Tamela Peterson, 58, Safety Manager Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, and the primary management assistant Gary Marken, 65 each face one count of second-degree murder, a potential life sentence, or one count of involuntary manslaughter, a 15-year felony.
The operator of the chamber, Aleta Moffitt, 60, is charged with one count of involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false medical information on a medical records chart.
“A single spark it appears ignited into a fully involved fire that claimed Thomas’s life within seconds,” Nessel said during a news conference. “Fires inside a hyperbaric chamber are considered a terminal event. Every such fire is almost certainly fatal and this is why many procedures and essential safety practices have been developed to keep a fire from ever occurring.”
The defendants are in custody awaiting arraignment, Nessel said.
The Oxford Center had said in an email to The Associated Press after the explosion that “the safety and well-being of the children we serve is our highest priority.”
“Nothing like this has happened in our more than 15 years of providing this type of therapy. We do not know why or how this happened and will participate in all of the investigations that now need to take place,” the center’s statement said.
A hyperbaric chamber contains 100% oxygen, up to three times the amount of oxygen than a normal room, the Troy Fire Department said after the explosion.
“The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible,” Fire Lt. Keith Young said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared hyperbaric chambers to be marketed as safe and effective for a list of 13 disorders, such as severe burns, decompression sickness and non-healing wounds.
The list doesn’t include many of the other disorders advertised by the Oxford Center including autism, ADHD and autoimmune diseases.
The FDA also recommends consumers only use hyperbaric centers that are inspected and accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. The Oxford Center doesn’t appear on the society’s February 2025 list of accredited facilities.
Nessel said her office extensively consulted experts on hyperbaric chambers and treatments.
“Horrifying and simple conclusions were reached,” she said. “The Oxford Center routinely operated sensitive and lethally dangerous hyperbaric chambers beyond their expected service lifetime and in complete disregard of vital safety measures and practices considered essential by medical and technical professionals.”
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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