'It's absolute anarchy': Oxygen therapy chambers have led to horrific deaths. Why are Maha elite raving about them? [View all]

[erronis]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/04/oxygen-chamber-maha

‘It’s absolute anarchy’: Oxygen therapy chambers have led to horrific deaths. Why are Maha elite raving about them?

Touted as a cure for everything from wrinkles to autism, the treatment has been hyped by Robert F Kennedy Jr and various celebrities. Experts say it needs to be regulated

Warning: this article contains distressing content

It was the kind of cold, damp morning that makes it hard to get out of bed, much less get a child out the door. The sun had not even risen when five-year-old Thomas Cooper and his mother, Annie Cooper, arrived for an appointment on 31 January at the Oxford Center in Troy, a northern suburb of Detroit, Michigan.

Thomas was an exuberant child with a button nose and pinchable cheeks – a little kid who loved running fast, playing Minecraft and watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, according to a GoFundMe set up by his family. He had just received money in a special red envelope for lunar new year, and he planned to spend it later that day with his little brother. But first, he was going to receive hyperbaric oxygen therapy for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sleep apnea.

That morning, Thomas got into a tubular metal and clear plastic chamber, which was sealed, pressurized and filled with 100% oxygen. Then, according to an expert who viewed video of the incident, Thomas squirmed enough to pull the sheet off the mattress, causing a spark of static electricity. In the oxygen-rich environment, that spark became a flash fire that incinerated Thomas within seconds. Annie, desperately trying to open the tank, got badly burned on her arms and chest. When firefighters arrived just before 8am, all they could do was put out the flames.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) – breathing concentrated oxygen in a highly pressurized enclosure – is prescribed by doctors for a handful of conditions such as severe burns, non-healing wounds or radiation injury. When it is provided by trained and licensed physicians and nurses in medical facilities using equipment that meets FDA regulations and is properly maintained, it is safe and effective.

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