Mom on oxygen pump dies when power co. cuts electricity

[theHawk]

This is messed up..



http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapc....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..



http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapc....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.....