Mom on oxygen pump dies when power co. cuts electricity

[theHawk]

This is messed up..
:o


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/29/nz.lifesupport.ap/index.html



Folole Muliaga, 44, of New Zealand, needed an electric oxygen pump to breathe
• She died two hours after energy company cut power because of unpaid bill
• Schoolteacher with four children ill, fell behind in payments
• Police investigating Mercury Energy; manager says company devastated
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A 44-year-old woman who needed an electric oxygen pump to breathe died after an energy company cut the power to her home because of a $122 unpaid bill, her family claimed Wednesday.

Police said they had launched an investigation into Folole Muliaga's death, which happened within two hours of state-owned company Mercury Energy cutting power to her house Tuesday.

Mercury Energy's general manager, James Moulder, said the company was devastated by the woman's death and was conducting its own investigation to determine what happened.

Muliaga, a schoolteacher with four children between the ages of 5 and 20, had been off work since February with an illness and had fallen behind in her payments to Mercury, said Brenden Sheehan, a relative who provided a copy of the bill.

Relative says family warned company rep she needed machine
Six days before a Mercury Energy representative arrived Tuesday at the house to disconnect the electricity, she was $122 in arrears.

Sheehan said both Muliaga and her son told the technician she was dependent on the oxygen machine to stay alive and invited him into the house to see it. "Then he cut the power off," Sheehan told The Associated Press.
Muliaga began having difficulty breathing, became faint and then collapsed, he said. Paramedics were unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead within two hours of the power being cut.

[Monkeybone]

sad.

why didn't they do something when the power was cut though? like did they call the company? did they call the hospital?

[Lightning Waltz]

Hey, if she can't pay for it, she doesn't deserve to have it. This is just another plot by those damn liberals to institute universal health care.

[Monkeybone]

so the liberals are controling things in New Zealand?

[Lightning Waltz]

so the liberals are controling things in New Zealand?

Damn liberals are everywhere...

[manu1959]

can anyone tell me why her relative didn't pay the bill for her? .... buy her a back up generator....

[diuretic]

The story on radio here was that the woman and her kids pleaded with a contractor sent around to cut the power off but he ignored them and cut it off. If I were him I'd be worried about being charged with manslaughter.

[remie]

The story on radio here was that the woman and her kids pleaded with a contractor sent around to cut the power off but he ignored them and cut it off. If I were him I'd be worried about being charged with manslaughter.

I think the family just might own themselves a power company.

[Abbey Marie]

can anyone tell me why her relative didn't pay the bill for her? .... buy her a back up generator....


As usual, you make the common sense argument, and as usual, it will likely fall on deaf ears.

[chum43]

it's unfortunate, but if you need a machine to live you should consider yourself lucky for every extra second you have on this earth, I'm sick of people feeling bad for people who should be dead already dieing.

on the other hand things like this shouldn't happen, if you are poor you shouldn't be denied basic needs of healthcare, like electricity... someone should have paid it, or the company should have given her some time to pay them back... maybe they could have threatened to shut it off a few times, surely she would have paid.

[5stringJeff]

This is unconscionable.

[Gunny]

This is messed up..
:o


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/29/nz.lifesupport.ap/index.html

I don't know about New Zealand, but that cannot, or I should say is not supposed to happen here. Hospital power is divided into different categotries ... general power, life safety, isolated ground (for specific equipment), and critical power. If power is cut, generators are required to kick in within either 30 or 45 second (don't know offhand which) that autmomatically feed the life safety and critical power.

[Nukeman]

it's unfortunate, but if you need a machine to live you should consider yourself lucky for every extra second you have on this earth, I'm sick of people feeling bad for people who should be dead already dieing.

on the other hand things like this shouldn't happen, if you are poor you shouldn't be denied basic needs of healthcare, like electricity... someone should have paid it, or the company should have given her some time to pay them back... maybe they could have threatened to shut it off a few times, surely she would have paid.

Just think this happened in a country with national health care!!!!!!!!

[Gunny]

Just think this happened in a country with national health care!!!!!!!!

That would be irrelevant if they had the strict life support requirements we have here in the US. I have worked on a major hospital, and a community clinic and the strict requirements were the same.

[Nukeman]

That would be irrelevant if they had the strict life support requirements we have here in the US. I have worked on a major hospital, and a community clinic and the strict requirements were the same.I was being sarcastic. Here in the states if you have a medical condition up to and including asthma you can not turn off the electricity in a home due to air quality.....

[waterrescuedude2000]

I say if you don't pay for it then you don't get it period. This is a company out to make money. Like every company out there, but they are here to provide a service. and you pay for that service or you don't get it. Its that simple.

[diuretic]

I say if you don't pay for it then you don't get it period. This is a company out to make money. Like every company out there, but they are here to provide a service. and you pay for that service or you don't get it. Its that simple.

Then, given the provision of electricity is obviously important to the security of everyone in society, shouldn't it be nationalised? That way the profit imperative of the corporate entity could be removed and the government, running the service, could afford to carry those who had difficulty or refused to pay. The government could pursue the non-payers by appropriate means of course but incidents such as this, where profit was put above human life by a corporation, could be avoided.

[avatar4321]

can anyone tell me why her relative didn't pay the bill for her? .... buy her a back up generator....

i was thinking the same thing.

Also, she had a 20 year old. any reason he/she wasnt working to help with the money situation?

[avatar4321]

Then, given the provision of electricity is obviously important to the security of everyone in society, shouldn't it be nationalised? That way the profit imperative of the corporate entity could be removed and the government, running the service, could afford to carry those who had difficulty or refused to pay. The government could pursue the non-payers by appropriate means of course but incidents such as this, where profit was put above human life by a corporation, could be avoided.

Yeah, that's the ticket. Let's fix the flaws by making the system even worse!

[glockmail]

Then, given the provision of electricity is obviously important to the security of everyone in society, shouldn't it be nationalised? That way the profit imperative of the corporate entity could be removed and the government, running the service, could afford to carry those who had difficulty or refused to pay. The government could pursue the non-payers by appropriate means of course but incidents such as this, where profit was put above human life by a corporation, could be avoided.

Dunno bout NZ but here in NC if you have a medical condition that requires electricity you notify the power company and they cannot turn off your power due to unpaid bills. This is a simple solution that does the same as your solution but does so without Socialism and without affecting all consumers.

[diuretic]

Yeah, that's the ticket. Let's fix the flaws by making the system even worse!

How does it make it worse?

[diuretic]

Dunno bout NZ but here in NC if you have a medical condition that requires electricity you notify the power company and they cannot turn off your power due to unpaid bills. This is a simple solution that does the same as your solution but does so without Socialism and without affecting all consumers.

I would say in NZ they're probably fixing up the problem. I bet the legislators thought they wouldn't need to include such an obvious clause. Good for the NC legislators though, they left nothing to chance.

[waterrescuedude2000]

Well if you make it a government entity then you have these clowns that don't pay their bills and then its just more taxes for us to make sure they break even. You cant let the government run that. thats almost as bad as the government trying to provide free health care. Just remember you get what you pay for. Yes it would be cool if medical care was a lot cheaper or free. But only if its good care. The company I work for pays my full medical benefits not a dime out of my check for it. of course i have to pay my co pay and deductibles. but anyways got off topic. :lame2:

[diuretic]

Nah, it's interesting to discuss different views on things. How will I know if I'm right unless I test my ideas?

You're right, it is entirely possible a bunch of people will say, stuff it, the govt can pay my bill. They should be pursued of course and they should be sued for debt recovery. If they don't pay up then they - after proper process - should suffer lack of service. But one service provider (govt) would mean one policy on that and not the kind of stupidity we've seen in the NZ example.