Woman brain-dead after Paris cryotherapy session goes wrong
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The client has been brain-dead since April 17, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
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PARIS - A woman injured during a fatal cryotherapy session at a gym in France’s capital earlier this week is now brain-dead, the prosecutor’s office said April 18.
The client, in her early 30s, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition after the accident late on April 14 claimed the life of an employee in her late 20s.
The client has been brain-dead since April 17, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
An autopsy on the first victim showed she suffocated due to a lack of oxygen, it added, which might confirm the theory of a nitrogen leak into the cryotherapy chamber.
Cryotherapy uses vapourised liquid nitrogen or nitrous oxide to lower the skin’s surface temperature to below minus 100 deg C for a recommended time of no more than three minutes.
Nitrogen is a colourless, odourless gas. It makes up around 80 per cent of the air we breathe, while oxygen accounts for 20 per cent.
But a nitrogen leak in a closed space could lead to oxygen depletion.
Advocates say whole-body cryotherapy is effective in reducing muscle soreness, stress, rheumatism and various skin conditions – like ice baths.
But many experts warn that the treatment has not been proven to be medically sound and are urging further research to determine the short- and long-term effects.
Cryotherapy sessions came under scrutiny in the United States in 2015 after a woman froze to death at a Las Vegas spa.
The 24-year-old woman was believed to have entered one of the spa’s cold chambers after business hours to relieve some aches, and was discovered the next day by a co-worker. AFP
