The Michigan facility where a hyperbaric chamber fire killed a 5-year-old child “held safety among their lowest considerations,” the state attorney general said Tuesday, a day after four people were arrested in the boy’s death.
Thomas Cooper died on Jan. 31 at the Oxford Center, an alternative medicine facility in the Detroit suburb of Troy that says it treats over 100 conditions, including Alzheimer’s, autism and dyslexia. Those conditions are not cleared for hyperbaric oxygen therapy by the Food and Drug Administration, nor are the ones that a family attorney said Thomas’ parents brought him in for: sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
In a scathing news conference Tuesday, state Attorney General Dana Nessel said the Oxford Center put profits before the safety of its clients.
“This was an unscrupulous business operating powerful machines, beyond their manufacturers’ intended term of use, on children’s bodies over and over again to provide unaccredited and debunked so-called treatments, chiefly because it brought cash into the door,” she said.
During the investigation into the deadly incident, “some horrifying and simple conclusions were reached,” Nessel 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,” she added.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves the delivery of 100% oxygen in a pressurized, tubelike chamber. The amount is about five times as much oxygen as is typically found in regular air, making it highly combustible.
Nessel said the investigation revealed the event was preventable and that a single spark “ignited into a fully involved fire that claimed Thomas’ life within seconds.”
Among the errors she said the facility made at the time of Thomas’ death: not performing daily maintenance checks or yearly inspections of the equipment; not having a doctor or safety supervisor on site; and not having a licensed technician performing the treatment.
The attorney general also said the Oxford Center did not use a grounding strap for Thomas, which is essential in protecting patients and equipment from static electricity that can serve as an ignition source in the chamber.
An attorney for the Oxford Center did not immediately respond to questions about the allegations. In a statement sent to NBC News before the news conference, the Oxford Center said it was “disappointed to see charges filed.”
“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed. There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred,” Oxford Center attorney Sam Vitale wrote in an email. “Yet, the Attorney General’s office proceeded to pursue charges without those answers.”
Authorities announced Monday that four people had been arrested and charged in connection with Thomas’ death. Three were charged with second-degree murder, while a fourth person was charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information in medical records.
The three who face the more serious charge of second-degree murder have each also been charged with alternative counts of involuntary manslaughter, meaning a jury will decide which charge is most appropriate, Nessel said.
“My office is confident that second-degree murder charges are appropriate for these individuals,” Nessel said. “We intend to demonstrate in court a series of actions undertaken by these defendants that satisfy these charges and tragically led to this child’s death.”
Nessel identified those charged with second-degree murder as Oxford Center owner Tamela Peterson; her primary management assistant, Gary Marken; and the company’s safety manager, Jeffrey Mosteller.
The fourth person charged, Aleta Moffitt, was the operator of the hyperbaric chamber at the time of Thomas’ death, Nessel said. The attorney general’s office did not provide any details about the charge of falsified medical records that was filed against her along with the count of involuntary manslaughter.
Attorneys for two of the defendants declined to comment on the arrests Monday evening, while attorneys for the others could not be located. All four were arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
James Harrington, managing partner of Fieger Law in Southfield, Michigan, represents Thomas’ family and has said the boy’s parents took him for multiple sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. When the fire broke out, Thomas’ mom rushed to the chamber where Thomas was receiving treatment, burning her arm as she tried to save her son.
The family is planning to file a lawsuit, Harrington said, adding that he was “not surprised” by the arrests.
“This is a very, very egregious case,” Harrington said in a phone interview Monday.
In addition to the facility in Troy, which is currently closed, the Oxford Center has another location in Brighton, Michigan, which the attorney general’s office said is also under investigation. The center says on its website that it offers physical therapy, occupational therapy and services for children with autism, among other treatments. A receptionist who answered the phone at the Brighton location Tuesday afternoon said the facility was open and providing all services except hyperbaric therapy.
The FDA has cleared hyperbaric oxygen therapy for several conditions, including carbon monoxide poisoning, certain wounds and burns and decompression sickness in scuba divers.
In recent years, spas, wellness centers and other unaccredited facilities have promoted hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a treatment for numerous health issues, although “some claims of what it can do are unproven,” the FDA warns.
The agency recommends going to a facility that has been evaluated and accredited by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, which has a list of accredited facilities. The Oxford Center is not among the accredited facilities listed.
“The Oxford Center operated these machines and offered unfounded treatments to patients when medical science contradicted these uses of their services,” Nessel said.
