Woman on Oxygen Dies After Power Cut UPDATE Power firm denies wrongdoing in death

[MERV]

Company Allegedly Kills Electricity Because of Unpaid Bill
Reuters
WELLINGTON (May 30) - 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.

A Mercury Energy representative arrived on Tuesday at her home in the northern city of Auckland to disconnect the electricity, said Brenden Sheehan, Muliaga's nephew-in-law.

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.

Moulder expressed his "deep condolences" to the family, and said the company was checking reports that it had been warned Muliaga needed power for the oxygen machine. The company restored electricity to the house on Wednesday after learning of her death.

Sheehan said the family's bills would prove Muliaga was trying to pay the account, and received no warning the power would be shut off.

State Owned Enterprises Minister Trevor Mallard said there were reports the family had been warned about the overdue account.

"The correct authority to investigate this and sort out the facts is the police," Mallard said, adding the government would expect "full accountability" if the company was found to be culpable.

[sws4420]

If it was only $122, she should have paid it.

[Donna]

If it was only $122, she should have paid it.

de' ja vu.......didn't we discuss something similar to this b4, here or in edg? If you follow the steps "they" give you, there's no reason that had to happen.

[sws4420]

Yeah, it's here somewhere. I think it was in Jersey last time.

Any amount of a payment will prevent them from turning you off.

[Cutesunshine]

Any letter from a physician will stop them from cutting you off as well.

I'm also curious as to why she didnt have tanks as back up???

[MedicCook]

I am glad I am not a Paramedic anymore having to go into these homes and do CPR, or tell Brian to do CPR.

[MERV]

You would think that after the person was sent there to disconnect the electricity, knowing full well that she was on home oxygen, because he was brought inside the house, that he would have attempted to contact his supervisor. This is not something new.

[sws4420]

This story is from New Zealand, in case some of it doesn't make any sense.

[MedicCook]

Update



Power firm denies wrongdoing in death

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/nz.lifesupport.ap/vert.muliaga.ap.jpg

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A New Zealand utility company that cut off power to the home of a woman connected to an electric oxygen pump, leading to her death, has insisted it was not aware she was dependent on the machine.

The family of Folole Muliaga accused the company of calling them liars over the Tuesday incident, in which the 44-year-old mother of four died two hours after a contractor working for the utility, state-owned Mercury Energy, cut power to the house over an unpaid bill worth 168.40 New Zealand dollars (U.S.$123). (Full story)

Muliaga's family claim that she and her son told the technician she needed the oxygen machine to stay alive and invited him into the house to see it.

But Mercury Energy and its parent company, Mighty River Power, insisted Thursday they were never told that Muliaga depended on the electricity supply for her oxygen machine.

Meanwhile, the Counties-Manukau District Health Board, which issued Muliaga with the oxygen machine after her recent hospital admission, expressed surprise that she was so reliant on the machine that disconnection may have caused her death.

Chief medical officer Dr. Don Mackie told Radio New Zealand that Muliaga would not have been sent home if she needed the machine to keep her alive.

"People who are on this are capable of breathing for themselves ... That is why we are surprised that she deteriorated and tragically died so soon after the support was withdrawn, and we need to understand more about that," he said.

Mercury Energy defended its actions in a letter released Thursday.

"At no time was the issue of Mrs. Muliaga's medical condition or her reliance on medical equipment made known to the electrical contractor. He did note that she had a medical tube in her nose but this was not connected to any equipment," the letter said.

In any event, the contractor could not have been expected "to be able to make medical decisions," Mighty River's Chief Executive Doug Heffernan told reporters, adding that the company was awaiting the results of a police investigation.

The contracting firm that cut off the electricity to Muliaga's home, VirCom EMS, said it had been consulting lawyers, and that the staff member involved had been sent on leave, according to a report by the NewstalkZB radio network.

New Zealand's Gas and Electricity complaints commissioner, Judi Jones, said that while the circumstances of the case were still unclear, Mercury Energy could be held responsible for the contractor's actions.

Family spokesman Brenden Sheehan called Mercury Energy's denials "repulsive" and said the family felt the company was calling them liars for disputing its version of events.

Sheehan said Muliaga's breathing grew worse in the two hours after the power was disconnected and she was "basically dead" when the ambulance arrived.

Police and the local coroner have each launched investigations into the cause of the woman's death.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/nz.lifesupport.ap/index.html

[Crystal]

Chief medical officer Dr. Don Mackie told Radio New Zealand that Muliaga would not have been sent home if she needed the machine to keep her alive.

"People who are on this are capable of breathing for themselves ... That is why we are surprised that she deteriorated and tragically died so soon after the support was withdrawn, and we need to understand more about that," he said.


My aunt has Pulmonary Lung Disease and she needs her oxygen thingy to stay alive yet she isn't in the hosptial. Maybe it's different in New Zealand, who knows.

If her electric was cut off, and she had the oxygen thingy, and died after the electric was shut off, and the autopsy says it had something to do with having no oxygen then case is solved. It's the Electric Companies fault. Which I'm sure is how it will pan out.