OAKLAND COUNTY (Troy), Mich. The family of Thomas Cooper, a 5-year-old boy who died when a hyperbaric oxygen chamber exploded at the Oxford Center in Troy, Michigan, filed a $100 million lawsuit on September 22, 2025, naming the center, the manufacturer, and several individuals as defendants. The suit, filed by Fieger Law, seeks accountability for what Cooper’s family describes as extreme negligence and egregious safety failures that turned what was supposed to be a healing environment into a tragedy.
Thomas died on January 31, 2025, while receiving treatment at the Oxford Center for conditions including sleep apnea and ADHD, treatments that are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for those diagnoses. His mother, Annie Cooper, was in the room, and at the time of the explosion she suffered burns trying to save her son.
The lawsuit alleges numerous safety protocol lapses: absence of proper warning labels on the chamber, failure to conduct required annual inspections, lack of a grounding strap (which could have prevented static discharge), and absence of licensed medical personnel during the procedure. Prosecutors, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, have also filed criminal charges, ranging from involuntary manslaughter to second-degree murder, against several defendants, including Tamela Peterson (Oxford Center CEO), Gary Marken, Jeffrey Mosteller, and chamber operator Aleta Moffitt.
In public statements, the family’s attorneys described the events leading to Thomas’s death as “foreseeable” and called out what they characterize as willful disregard for basic safety procedures. They say the facility was operating a piece of equipment with lethal potential without taking industry-accepted safety measures. The lawsuit seeks not only monetary damages but also full transparency into how and why such a disaster was able to happen.
Key Legal & Safety Implications
- The case has drawn attention to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a treatment cleared by the FDA for some uses (e.g., decompression sickness, non-healing wounds, etc.) but not approved for ADHD or sleep apnea, both conditions for which Thomas Cooper was being treated.
- It highlights liability issues in medical device manufacturing, facility safety, staffing, and training, and how regulatory or oversight failures may open legal exposure for civil penalties and criminal charges.
- The case may affect how hyperbaric treatment centers are regulated, inspected, or required to maintain safety standards in jurisdictions across the country.
What’s Next
The civil case is ongoing. The family is seeking damages for Thomas’s death, his suffering, his mother’s injuries, and the emotional trauma suffered by relatives. Meanwhile, the defendants charged criminally have pleaded not guilty so far. Investigations continue, especially focusing on what safety measures were skipped and whether the chamber was properly maintained or operated.
Sources:
NBC News. “Family of boy killed in hyperbaric oxygen chamber fire files $100M lawsuit.” Published September 22, 2025. Photo of Thomas Cooper. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-boy-killed-hyperbaric-oxygen-chamber-fire-files-lawsuit-rcna232558
- NBC News – Family of boy killed in hyperbaric oxygen chamber fire files $100M lawsuit
- ClickOnDetroit – $100 million lawsuit filed against Oxford Center in hyperbaric explosion that killed 5-year-old boy
- CBS News Detroit – Family of 5-year-old Michigan boy killed in hyperbaric chamber explosion files lawsuit
- FOX 2 Detroit – $100M lawsuit: Family sues after boy killed in Troy explosion
- Associated Press – Criminal charges filed in hyperbaric chamber explosion that killed 5-year-old boy
- Detroit Free Press – Thomas Cooper hyperbaric oxygen chamber fire sparks civil lawsuit against Sechrist Industries
