Four people have been charged for the death of 5-year-old Thomas Cooper, who died in a hyperbaric chamber after it exploded, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.
Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene at the Oxford Center, a medical facility in Troy, Michigan, on Jan. 31, according to The Associated Press.
In a video message, Nessel called the event “tragic” and said Thomas was killed in an “easily preventable tragedy.”
Thomas died after a fire erupted inside the pressurized “pure oxygen environment,” Nessel said, adding that a single spark ignited a full fire that killed the boy within seconds.
“The investigation in this tragedy has revealed how the Oxford Center in Troy and several of its key decision-makers held safety among their lowest considerations in their hyperbaric treatment practice,” Nessel said.
Oxford Center owner Tamela Peterson, management assistant Gary Marken and safety manager Jeffrey Mosteller were all charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. Aleta Moffitt, the operator of the hyperbaric chamber on the day of Cooper’s death, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information on a medical record as medical provider.
According to the FDA, a hyperbaric chamber helps the lungs collect more oxygen. Inside the chamber, the air pressure is raised to a level higher than normal air pressure.
James Harrington, the Cooper family’s attorney, told NBC News that Thomas’ parents took the child to the center for multiple sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for sleep apnea and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Nessel said hyperbaric chambers aren’t new and there are plenty of national and international safety standards to ensure patients’ safety. 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.”
She said the Oxford Center broke several safety measures, including not completing the daily maintenance check on the hyperbaric chamber, not having a medical doctor or safety supervisor at the center at the time, and not having a licensed technician perform the treatment. She also said that the center put the boy in the hyperbaric chamber even though the treatment was “not supported by medical science” for his ailments.
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Thomas’ mother, Annie Cooper, was burned on the arm after she rushed over to the chamber after the fire broke out to try and save her son.
“This is a very, very egregious case,” Harrington told NBC News.
