13-03-2025
After child's death, Oxford confirms hyperbaric treatments have halted in Brighton
BRIGHTON — After the fiery death of a five-year-old boy in Troy, and the ensuing charges filed against Oxford Center CEO Tamela Peterson and other officials, the organization's location in Brighton has halted hyperbaric chamber treatments.
That's according to an employee, who confirmed via phone call with The Daily the location is not offering the treatments "at this time."
The center has also seemed to pause postings of TOC Talks, a podcast, which consistently uploaded 2-3 episodes per month between February 2023 and August 2024, followed by another posting Nov. 14. None have been posted since Jan. 10.
The center's Facebook and Instagram pages have also paused posts and reels about patient progress, staff and treatment options. The most recent Instagram post was made Jan. 13, and posted to Facebook the following day. There have been no social media posts since.
More: Police say Brighton woman ran, tried to hide evidence after boy's hyperbaric chamber death
The location in Troy, where the five-year-old's death occurred, is "temporarily closed."
On Jan. 31, a five-year-old patient named Thomas Cooper had begun his thirty-sixth hyperbaric chamber treatment for ADHD and sleep apnea when a spark caused the chamber to erupt in flames. Cooper's mother, who rushed to his side from a nearby waiting room, suffered third degree burns trying to free him.
The investigation that followed revealed '... a clear history of dishonesty, interference with investigations, predatory behavior towards vulnerable individuals desperately trying to get treatment, and a culture of negligence and unsafe practices that's gone on for years,' according to testimony from Troy Detective Danielle Trigger.
Oxford's founder, Peterson, 58, of Brighton, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in Thomas' death, as are the Oxford Center's operations director, Gary Marken, 65, of Spring Arbor, and its safety and training director, Jeffrey Mosteller, 64, of Clinton Township.
A fourth person, Aleta Harward Moffitt, 60, of Rochester Hills, was the operator of the chamber on the morning of Thomas' death and is charged with involuntary manslaughter and intentionally placing false information on a medical record.
The Oxford Center offered hyperbaric oxygen therapy for a variety of conditions not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including autism, cerebral palsy, cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel described the business as 'unscrupulous,' saying that, for years, Peterson, Marken and Mosteller blatantly disregarded safety measures, using the highly pressurized oxygen chambers on children's bodies 'over and over again to provide unaccredited and debunked so-called treatments, chiefly because it brought cash into the door.'
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Hyperbaric chambers contain 100% pressurized oxygen. Those conditions make the environment inside them highly combustible. Trigger said waivers signed by patients and the parents of children who were treated at the center didn't include warnings of a fire hazard.
Peterson, according to police, ran away from detectives when asked for her cellphone after the death, and had her son scrub her laptop days later.
Still, police found electronic messages on Peterson's devices, according to Trigger, including an exchange in which Peterson sent photos of the boy's burning body and wrote 'something to the effect of: 'If my leg was on fire, I would at least try to hit it and put it out. He just laid there and did nothing.''
— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Oxford Center in Brighton pauses hyperbaric treatments after death
