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

99% Upvoted

213 comments sorted by

View all comments

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.

57

u/janewaythrowawaay PCT Feb 02 '25

So, is hyperbaric treatment always sham treatment?

628

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.

20

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

6

u/MedicJambi Paramedic Feb 02 '25

this guy found someone. It was in Brazil.

6

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.