Montreal toddler receiving post-drowning treatment in U.S. that’s inaccessible to Canadians 

"We could have all done this in Montreal," says Quebecer Nicolas Tétrault whose toddler is receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the U.S. for post-droning care - something inaccessible to Canadians. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

Two-year-old Montrealer, Arthur Tétrault, spends parts of his days undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the U.S. 

His parents Nicolas and Melissa uprooted their lives and had him transferred from the Montreal Children’s Hospital to News Orleans, alleging doctors wrote off his chances of survival following his near-drowning in Oct. 2024.

“He is under pressure in a pressurized environment,” said Dr. Paul G. Harch, owner and director of Harch Hyperbarics in Louisiana. “So we close the door and we feed breathing gas in, either oxygen or air, and it forces it in to increase the pressure.”

Arthur was medevacked to Louisiana on Nov. 29, where his father says the prognosis was incomparable to that of the Montreal Children’s.

“After five weeks, they said they were gonna unplug him,” said Nicolas Tétrault. “We’ve been seven weeks in the hospital here and we’re going home Monday and he’s breathing on his own and doing really better.”

“Look at him, he’s doing a million times better,” he added. “So I feel that there’s a huge discrepancy in between our health care system in Canada and the one in the U.S.”

Two-year-old, Arthur Tétrault, at a hospital in New Orleans U.S. following a near-drowning in Oct. 2024. (Submitted by: Nicolas Tétrault)

Dr. Harch says he’s treated close to 160 cases of post-drowning in children since 1989 and now Arthur is under his care.

“He had a drowning and was severely injured,” explained the doctor. “But lesser injured than many of the children that I see.”

“He had upper airway obstruction and needed a tracheostomy,” he added. “Apparently the decision was not to perform that at Montreal Children’s because a palliative care consult had been done, which judged that hyperbaric oxygen therapy, any therapy did not have the capacity or the child did not have the capacity to regain consciousness and experience joy.”

Just over a month of care in hospital, he got the green-light for this treatment involving an increase of pressure to help heal parts of the brain that were damaged.

“In Montreal, you could not get treated at all if you have a brain damage with hyperbaric oxygen therapy,” said Dr. Pierre Marois, pediatric rehabilitation doctor at Montreal’s Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal and a colleague of Dr. Harch’s. “It’s still not a recognized treatment here.”

Dr. Marois says he recently published research on this topic, which he specialized in. “And the conclusions are that every children that have brain damage or cerebral palsy should be treated with that should be offered treatment because they can improve much more than just with normal therapy.

“Even if we have a lot of data and a lot of proof that this treatment can help,” he added, “it’s still not recognized by the healthcare system in Quebec.”

Medical staff seen alongside two-year-old, Arthur Tétrault, at a hospital in New Orleans U.S. following a near-drowning in Oct. 2024. (Submitted by: Nicolas Tétrault)

Dr. Marois says two hospitals in the province have hyperbaric chambers: the Sacré-Cœur in Montreal and one near Quebec City in Lévis.

Health Canada outlines only 14 conditions when these machines could be used including carbon monoxide poisoning, frostbite, embolisms – but not post-drownings. “Health Canada has not issued licences for the sale of hyperbaric chambers to treat other conditions, at this time,” they said in a statement.

The Montreal Children’s Hospital told CityNews that: “Hyperbaric oxygen is not recommended by international standards of care for the chronic treatment of oxygen deprivation brain injury after resuscitated cardiac arrest.”

Arthur Tétrault, 2, after being treated in the U.S. following a near-drowning in Oct. 2024. (Courtesy: Nicolas Tétrault)

“There are many studies with all kinds of brain damage that show that you can have a lot of improvement,” said Dr. Marois. “And I’ve seen a few patients that have been drowned, that drowned, and we treated them after that.”

“They could recuperate a lot,” he added. “It’s not a miracle cure because it doesn’t work all the time but sometimes it’s very, very impressive. Some children start to walk again or speak again or go to school again.”

“We could have all done this in Montreal,” said Tétrault. “Everything is there. The best doctors, technology, the best machines.”

Tétrault says he is now advocating for greater access to this treatment.

“We’re going to try to implement positive change in all of Canada, not just in Quebec, to make sure that we can treat children that drown, but also children that have cerebral palsy and other diseases with hyperbaric,” he said.

Arthur’s father added that he’ll be in the U.S. for at least another six months, costing him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Our son is alive and getting better every day,” he said. “How much is that worth?”

“I think we’re going to bring him back to you in an interview in six months,” he told CityNews “Walking and talking.”

“At this rate, I’m convinced it’s going to work.”

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