A pressurized oxygen chamber exploded at a suburban Detroit medical facility, killing a 5-year-old patient and injuring his mother. The explosion occurred Friday morning at the Oxford Center in Troy, north of Detroit, per the AP. The child, from Royal Oak, Michigan, had been inside the machine and was pronounced dead at the scene. "The mother of the child suffered some injuries to her arms as she was standing right next to the chamber as the explosion occurred," Troy police Lt. Ben Hancock said. "We don't know exactly what the child was being treated for at the center today."
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the delivery of oxygen to a person's body by providing pure oxygen in an enclosed space with higher than normal air pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. The therapy includes treatment for decompression sickness, serious tissue disease or wounds, trapped air bubbles in blood vessels, carbon monoxide poisoning, and tissue damage from radiation therapy.
Hyperbaric chambers contain 100% oxygen, which is up to five times the amount of oxygen in a normal room, Troy Fire Lt. Keith Young said Friday at a news conference. "The presence of such a high amount of oxygen in a pressurized environment can make it extremely combustible," Young said. "We did some initial investigation. This is very uncommon, so we're not sure what led up to it." The Oxford Center said in an email that a fire started inside the hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
- Ohio explosion: In Whitehall, Ohio, an improperly discarded oxygen tank exploded in a garbage truck this week, and a worker barely escaped serious injury, reports Cleveland19. The link has video of the explosion.
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