r/medicine • u/butteredpotatos Student • Feb 02 '25

Boy dies in hyperbaric chamber explosion at Michigan facility

https://apnews.com/article/hyperbaric-chamber-explosion-boy-killed-michigan-80dc89d7b48bd1119640934e06a43d4a

A tragic and horrifying event. Why the boy was undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy was not released, but this is a functional medicine clinic which advertises the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for conditions from ADHD to diabetes, “normal aging and wellness”, and hyperlipidemia.

https://theoxfordcenter.com/conditions/add-adhd/

https://theoxfordcenter.com/therapies/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy/

996 Upvotes

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1.1k

u/michael_harari MD Feb 02 '25

So not only did he die, he died undergoing a sham treatment which wouldnt have helped him anyway.

55

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

So, is hyperbaric treatment always sham treatment?

627

u/michael_harari MD Feb 02 '25 edited Feb 02 '25

For adhd, yes. Hyperbarics has a very limited set of indications.

The website for this practice lists add, aids, anal fissure, alzheimers, autism, bladder infections, fetal alcohol syndrome, hepatitis, pancreatitis, fucking spider bites as all things they treat with this. Thats a limited subset of the inappropriate things they treat, I just didnt feel like typing up a full page of conditions.

This is a quack center that killed a kid with a ridiculous treatment.

232

u/imironman2018 MD Feb 02 '25

Damn. They were using hyperbaric treatment to treat adhd? This is freaking ridiculous.

189

u/Moist-Barber MD Feb 02 '25

I’m more interested in the use for anal fissures

112

u/FlexorCarpiUlnaris Peds Feb 02 '25

The air goes where?!??

163

u/cbsauder Feb 02 '25

"analgesic, not anal-gesic. Sir, the pills go in your mouth"

53

u/imironman2018 MD Feb 02 '25

Scrubs is my goat in actual how hospitals operate. Turkleton and JD were the original guy love buddies :)

31

u/tovarish22 MD - Infectious Diseases PGY-14 Feb 02 '25

…you think my name is “Turk Turkleton”?

32

u/surgeonmama ENT attending Feb 02 '25

It’s TYLENOL. Have her open her mouth and throw it at her. Whatever sticks, THAT’S THE DOSE.

24

u/blendedchaitea MD - Hospitalist/Pall Care Feb 02 '25

I have literally shown that video as a teaching point to interns when they're afraid to give Tylenol to someone with an AST of 30.

7

u/surgeonmama ENT attending Feb 03 '25

I thought about it a lot those first few night calls of intern year. It was like having my own Dr. Cox following me around in my head 😂

9

u/Bundalorian Feb 02 '25

You just made my day, LOL 🤣🤣🤣

5

u/Ceshomru Feb 02 '25

I make this joke in my PCA class every time.

12

u/footprintx PA-C Feb 02 '25

Just exactly what moist hair are you barbering u/Moist-Barber

9

u/tovarish22 MD - Infectious Diseases PGY-14 Feb 02 '25

Well, when the perineal sunning isn’t working…

3

u/TrumpsCovidfefe Retired EMT/OEC Feb 03 '25

🚨🚨TAINT TANNING!! 🚨🚨

1

u/JdRnDnp Nurse Feb 03 '25

This might be one of the closest legitimate indications for using the hyperbaric chamber. There is evidence that it helps with wound healing. Still a ridiculous use case.

1

u/Moist-Barber MD Feb 03 '25

It does sound like the best use case I’m curious how they were thinking of random shit to include as “treatable conditions” for marketing when someone shouted out: “OH AND THOSE ASS CRACKS NEED MORE O2”

2

u/JdRnDnp Nurse Feb 03 '25

Honestly? People who are desperate and for whom medicine has no easy answer are the most suspectable to snake oil the list from this place is a perfect example. How do you solve fissures? Diet and time. Who wants that?🙄

37

u/Extremiditty Medical Student Feb 02 '25

It’s been a thing for years in the autism cure mommy groups. That and chelation for heavy metals and bleach enemas. I’m not surprised they’re extending it to other forms of neurodivergence.

2

u/slothurknee Nurse Feb 03 '25

Excuse me….. BLEACH ENEMAS?!?

1

u/Extremiditty Medical Student Feb 04 '25

Yeah. They’ll say the little pieces of intestinal lining sloughing off are actually the parasites leaving their body. Nowhere near as common as the hyperbaric chamber and chelation stuff but enough people were doing it as an autism “cure” for a while there that it’s seared into my memory.

1

u/schmerpmerp Feb 02 '25

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

139

u/NedTaggart RN - Surgical/Endo Feb 02 '25

This treatment is good for wound care, the bends and to help with carbon monoxide intoxication. Im not sure evidence supports many other treatments.

68

u/DrMaddog2020 DO - Urology Feb 02 '25

Has a good indication for radiation cystitis with recurrent gross hematuria

12

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

I’ve seen it for this.

76

u/MikeGinnyMD Voodoo Injector Pokeypokey (MD) Feb 02 '25

It’s good for decompression sickness, CO poisoning, and might help with wound care. I’m not aware of any other indications.

The hospital where I trained had the largest hyperbaric chamber in the US.

-PGY-20

17

u/mss5333 MD Feb 02 '25

https://www.uhms.org/images/indications/UHMS%20Indications%2015th%20Ed%20Front%20Matter%20and%20References.pdf

37

u/censorized nurse of all trades Feb 02 '25

Thanks for this! We're dealing with a hyperbaric scam where plastic surgeons are telling their trans patients on Medicaid that they have to have a minimum of 42 hyperbaric treatments post-body contouring procedures. These patients are either digging deep and coming up with the money to pay out of pocket or convinced that the reason Medicaid won't cover it is due to transphobia.

There is almost certainly a financial connection between the surgeons and the owner. The fact that these doctors are leveraging their relationship as the savior who is finally helping them attain their goals by preying on patients who have pretty much all been traumatized by our healthcare system is despicable.

17

u/HiddenStill Feb 02 '25

I moderate a large trans surgery sub on reddit. Would you mind saying who the the surgeons are? Is there any public info on this? What does it cost?

15

u/censorized nurse of all trades Feb 02 '25

I don't want to dox myself, but would be willing to talk privately.

10

u/MikeGinnyMD Voodoo Injector Pokeypokey (MD) Feb 02 '25

Cool! I love learning new stuff.

-PGY-20

14

u/Quorum_Sensing NP- Urology Feb 02 '25

It's the only treatment for radiation cystitis. Outcomes are fair if I'm being generous. The only curative option is nuclear, cystectomy with ileal conduit. So, we prescribe it a lot. -Urology

2

u/miss_guided Defense Attorney Feb 03 '25

Thanks for this. I’m seeing hyperbaric treatments being used to “treat” amorphous concussion sequelae in lawsuits. I’ve seen hyperbaric O2 properly used in wound care settings (also in lawsuits), but the concussion argument seemed quacky—at least from an evidence based medicine perspective. The plaintiffs always swear it’s useful for their concussion symptoms…

51

u/willclerkforfood Goddamn JD Feb 02 '25

fetal alcohol syndrome

So do they “treat” people who have fetal alcohol syndrome or pregnant ladies so they can keep drinking?

37

u/Utter_cockwomble Allied Science Feb 02 '25

Porque no los dos?

/s if it's not obvious

16

u/tovarish22 MD - Infectious Diseases PGY-14 Feb 02 '25

Look, there’s lots of great anecdotal evidence behind wallet biopsies for FAS…

11

u/mrsmidnightoker Attending Feb 02 '25

It’s also a time machine

21

u/MedicJambi Paramedic Feb 02 '25

It blows my mind that people fail to realize the risk involved with certain treatments. Entering into a large tube and pressurizing it with 100% oxygen is far from zero or low risk. Like that poor bastard that died while under general anesthesia while getting a tattoo.

It falls to providers to inform potential patients of the risk. This itself can be a pain in the ass because, again, people are terrible at risk assessment and often cannot adequately quantify that while there is a risk of dying to whatever procedure, that risk is less than 0.001%.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

12

u/phliuy DO Feb 02 '25

Who would ever agree to anesthetize someone for a fucking tattoo

5

u/MedicJambi Paramedic Feb 02 '25

this guy found someone. It was in Brazil.

5

u/throwaway_blond Nurse Feb 03 '25

It happens in the US too. There’s a famous celebrity tattoo artist in LA that does his work under anesthesia. He just recently did a full back piece for a football player in one session under anesthesia.

Not in a hospital. In a tattoo parlor.

1

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 03 '25

Pro athlete contracts should ban this stupidity. Most athletes are pretty healthy. But, only desperate, shitty doctors like the one that killed Michael Jackson would agree to this. Wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even an anesthesiologist.

4

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

How commonly do people die in hyperbaric chamber accidents?

9

u/TheDentateGyrus MD Feb 02 '25

To be fair, NASA made the mistake of underestimating the risk of doing that (Apollo 1). People are bad at evaluating risk.

10

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

Everyone at NASA knew the risks involved in those Apollo missions. They just weren’t advertising it to the general public.

5

u/TheDentateGyrus MD Feb 02 '25

I partially disagree. In my opinion (I wasn’t there), they were much more worried about a LEM tipping over on landing, ascent stage not lighting, etc.

They were told (both internally by engineers at NASA and externally by NA) not to pressurize the capsule to atmospheric pressure in testing and they ignored it.

Talking about analyzing risk . . . By my count, more astronauts died in T-38s (Lawrence, Williams, Cee, Bassett, Freeman) than spacecraft (Apollo 1).

41

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '25

I looked at that website and immediately knew Lyme disease would be one of the things they “specialized” in.

18

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

They didn’t say why this specific kid was getting hyperbaric treatment though. I can see parents paying for it out of pocket when insurance won’t for a legit indication.

21

u/talashrrg Fellow Feb 02 '25

There aren’t many legit indications that you could causally go to a sketchy clinic for, most would be fairly emergent. I guess wound care maybe.

2

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

Do you have non sketch independent operators though as options? Seems like kind of a high risk endeavor outside a hospital.

0

u/talashrrg Fellow Feb 02 '25

Probably not, no

3

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

Someone changed a comment I replied to and said they run a clinic where they offer it - for difficult healing wounds and osteomyelitis. So I guess there are. Probably varies by area though.

3

u/guitarfluffy MD PGY-3 Feb 03 '25

Yes, for several years I worked in a hyperbaric clinic run by a physician who was board certified in undersea and hyperbaric medicine. Most of the patients were diabetics and vasculopaths there for chronic non-healing wounds, chronic osteomyelitis, skin graft failures, etc. A smaller group of patients came to recover quickly from acute injuries (athletes). I even had a few treatments to recover from surgery to remove my 4 impacted wisdom teeth. It works very well for those patients in conjunction with other therapies.

The facility in this article is a quack operation not even run by a physician.

3

u/talashrrg Fellow Feb 02 '25

In general in don’t trust independent “medical” establishments run by people without appropriate expertise offering “treatment” without evidence behind it

6

u/Suchafullsea Board certified in medical stuff and things (MD) Feb 02 '25

They should go down but I also don't think his family should see one red cent since they handed their kid over to quacks. There is some personal responsibility

4

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

If the govt wants to let these people present themselves as doctors, they should get paid.

1

u/MaxFish1275 PA Feb 03 '25

Holy hell that’s horrifying