Michigan state Rep. Sharon MacDonell and state Sen. Stephanie Chang have introduced a package of bills to regulate free-standing health spas and wellness centers offering hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The legislation is the first of its kind in the U.S., they say, that would require the free-standing facilities that use hyperbaric oxygen chambers to be licensed, accredited and inspected.
The legislation was introduced earlier this week and comes nearly 13 months after the death of Thomas Cooper, 5, of Royal Oak. He was killed in a hyperbaric chamber fire at the Oxford Center in Troy.
Michigan would become the first state in the nation to require licensure, inspections and accreditation of stand-alone health and wellness centers, medical spas and other facilities that use hyperbaric oxygen chambers — if a package of bills introduced this week in the state House of Representatives and Senate is signed into law.
The legislation, introduced by state Rep. Sharon MacDonell, D-Troy, and state Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, has bipartisan support and would require the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to license and inspect free-standing facilities, MacDonell said.
The bills were introduced nearly 13 months after 5-year-old Thomas Cooper of Royal Oak died in a fire inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber Jan. 31, 2025, at the Oxford Center in Troy.
Michigan could be 1st in U.S. to license hyperbaric chamber facilities
