Deaths prompt state lawmakers to consider new hyperbaric oxygen therapy rules

Just before 8 a.m. on Jan. 31, an explosion rocked a nondescript one-story office building in an affluent suburb of Detroit.

The building was home to The Oxford Center, a health clinic that provided hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat a variety of disorders.

Inside the clinic, a spark had ignited the high-pressure, pure-oxygen atmosphere in a hyperbaric chamber where 5-year-old Thomas Cooper lay with a pillow and blanket, receiving treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea. A fireball consumed the inside of the chamber in seconds, killing the boy, law enforcement later said.

His mother suffered third-degree burns on her arms as she tried to free her son.

Within weeks of the tragedy, Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel charged three Oxford Center employees, including the center’s owner, with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and a fourth employee with involuntary manslaughter. Nessel said the staff disregarded multiple safety protocols.

The Michigan death and another fatality less than six months later at a wellness clinic in Arizona have thrown a spotlight on the largely unregulated world of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A treatment once primarily confined to hospitals, it has surged in popularity in alternative health spaces in recent years.

https://stateline.org/2025/09/15/deaths-prompt-state-lawmakers-to-consider-new-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-rules/