OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – A former Oxford Center employee testified that grounding wrist straps that prevent static electric buildup in hyperbaric chambers stopped being used in 2017, years before a 2025 explosion that killed a 5-year-old boy.
Tamela Peterson, 59, of Brighton, Jeffrey Mosteller, 65, of Clinton Township, Gary Marken, 66, of Spring Arbor and Aleta Moffitt, 61, of Rochester Hills, were charged after Thomas Cooper was killed when the hyperbaric chamber he was receiving treatment in exploded at the Oxford Center in Troy on Jan. 31, 2025. The boy’s mother was also injured in the explosion.
The four workers are accused of ignoring several safety guidelines for operating hyperbaric chambers, including not using a grounding wrist strap, rolling back the chamber cycle count, giving the 5-year-old boy a blanket straight from a running dryer, using polyester pillows and more…