A single session at the private Ontario Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Centre, which specializes in treating children with autism, costs $180. Other concerns have been raised about the frequency of inspections and the cost of sessions. “How are they screening patients?”īut Humphrey Killam, director of HOC Hyperbaric Care Center, a private centre in Victoria, BC, argues that 9-1-1 paramedics are sufficient if a seizure or other adverse medical reaction occurs. “Sometimes the people running these clinics are not medically trained, they’re businessmen,” she says. Tasreen Alibhai, a naturopathic doctor at the private Canadian Hyperbaric Institute in Vancouver agrees that regulation is needed. Middle ear barotrauma can occur in about 2% of patients and in much rarer instances, seizures or flash pulmonary edema can result. Harrison isn’t opposed to using hyperbaric oxygen for nonapproved conditions “provided that the safeguards are there and the patient is fully informed that this is an experimental treatment.”īut the problem, he says, is that many private clinics don’t have a doctor on hand, patients are given misleading information about the efficacy of the treatment, and there are health risks. According to Health Canada, the clinical safety of the private centres comes under provincial jurisdiction. The federal government says responsibility falls outside their purview. In August, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, petitioned BC’s health department to introduce standards for private hyperbaric clinics.Ĭurrently, provincial regulatory agencies such as the Alberta Boilers Safety Association make sure that the tanks are up to snuff when they’re installed in private clinics, but no agency actually oversees operations to ensure that the equipment is used safely.
“When there are people out there prescribing hyperbaric oxygen as an anti-aging tonic, I don’t blame them.” David Harrison, medical director of Vancouver General Hospital’s hyperbaric clinic in British Columbia. “Some practitioners will not refer their patients to us because they think we are snake oil vendors,” says Dr.
But unencumbered by the same rules as public facilities, the private clinics are also offering pressurized oxygen to those with non-indicated conditions such as Parkinson disease, autism and even HIV/AIDS.
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