Dodgy ex-chiro Malcolm Hooper and Oxymed fined after patient death

An ‘alternative health facility’ once used by Essendon players has copped a massive fine after a patient died from a controversial treatment.

A clinic providing a “controversial” alternative therapy has been fined more than half a million dollars after the shocking death of a patient.

Oxymed must pay $550,000 and its sole director Malcolm Hooper must pay $176,750 for three workplace safety offences following the death of Craig Dawson on April 6, 2016, the County Court of Victoria ruled on Monday.

Mr Dawson was inside a hyperbaric oxygen chamber when a fault in a valve caused the mask delivering pure oxygen to suddenly suck into his face, emptying his lungs and triggering a heart attack.

He never regained consciousness, and his life support was turned off five days later.

Oxymed’s website, now taken down, said the clinic has in the past been used by sporting stars including tennis world number one Novak Djokovic.

Malcolm Hooper’s hyperbaric oxygen therapy business has been used by Novak Djokovic and Essendon players in the past. Picture: Ian Currie / NCA NewsWire

It was a favourite of former Essendon biochemist Stephen Dank, the architect of the Bombers’ doping scandal.

Dank spent $50,000 of the club’s money at Oxymed on treatments for players before his ostracisation from the professional sporting world, it was reported in 2013.

Judge Amanda Fox said Oxymed was an “alternative health facility” that used hyperbaric oxygen therapy for treatments “outside the mainstream”.

“You do not need medical qualifications to own and operate these sorts of chambers,” she said.

Mr Dawson, who could not walk and had a history of life-threatening seizures, was using the treatment for his severe multiple sclerosis.

Craig Dawson was undergoing oxygen therapy in a hyperbaric chamber when he lost consciousness, dying five days later in hospital when his life support was turned off. Picture: David Crosling / NCA NewsWire

Judge Fox said an expert told the court the use of oxygen therapy to treat multiple sclerosis was “controversial”, not supported by scientific data and not approved by Medicare.

Hooper formerly went by Dr Hooper until he was struck off as a chiropractor in 2013 after VCAT found him guilty of professional misconduct for charging a patient with cerebral palsy $50,000 for oxygen therapy treatments when Hooper “misrepresented” the treatment’s effectiveness.