NH woman on oxygen dies after power cut to home

NH woman on oxygen dies after power cut to home

www.washingtonpost.com

CONCORD, N.H. -- A woman who needed powered oxygen equipment to breathe died after she did not pay the power bill and a utility shut off her electricity, police said Friday. State officials were investigating whether any regulations were broken.

Kay Phaneuf, 53, died Thursday at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass. She had been in critical condition since her husband found her unconscious Monday about an hour after power was cut to their home in Salem.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is a snipit of a larger problem that happens too often in cases of indigent people, primarily during the winter when people freeze to death during the winter.

There must be some practices put in place whereby the utilities investigate the environments of the homes where they are about to cancel power or gas to more seriously than they do now.

Frankly there is never any situation where power should be cut with out positive confirmation received by the home/apartment owner. Knocking on the door and sending notices does not cut it.

There is absolutely no reason for someone to have died because they failed to or were unable to pay their power bill.

Most of the people to whom this happens to are probably extremely marginal users of utilities anyway.

So we're to provide free utilities to folks in public housing, but are supposed to cut them off if you are unable to pay, but not on public assistance?

Makes no sense

www.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is really sad. I cannot say how much this nation takes no care for its elderly. It's pathetic.

This is all white noise. We're supposed to be talking about Europe melting. It is now June 26th and they aren't melting yet so quit trying to change the subject.

reply to post by dolphinfan


Dolphinfan.....

What an awful, awful situation for all concerned......

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

How awful! I completely agree with Gorman, our nation can be downright cruel and careless when it comes to taking care of our elders. Nursing homes are awful places, as is living alone and not being able to leave your house much. My heart goes to the elderly who are improperly cared for or not cared for at all.

Originally posted by Gorman91
This is really sad. I cannot say how much this nation takes no care for its elderly. It's pathetic.

Uhm, you mean paying for all of their health expenses? I recently lost a grandfather to cancer and every single bit of it was paid for by Medicare. I have to say I did not agree with the fact that it was. They spent thousands of dollars just to keep him alive for no more than a few days while he died in pain. NONE of it was paid for by any member of my family...ever dime was paid for by Medicare. The elderly in this country receive plenty, MORE than plenty...Medicare is 40 Trillion in the hole because of it. I also know from experience that as a back up people with electrical oxygen producing machine ALWAYS have back up tanks. They just have to switch over to the tank....the tank, oxygen provider etc, was undoubtedly paid for by Medicare. My guess is that the woman didn't pay on purpose and more or less committed suicide....if you want to talk about the VA...that's a different story.

[edit on 26-6-2010 by yellowcard]

This is a more complicated case than is being portrayed in this thread. The article makes several observations about a series of notices that must be issued to the home if the electricity is to be cut off.

Also there are systems in place that keep police and fire firefighters in the area informed of people who depend on machines for their lives.

It is not clear if any of these procedures were followed.

One thing that seems to be certain is that the battery back up on the woman's machine was not activated.

It's too soon to attribute blame to a cold, heartless system, when in fact the family may not have followed proper procedures and kept those procedures current.

[edit on 2010/6/26 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by State of Mind
How awful! I completely agree with Gorman, our nation can be downright cruel and careless when it comes to taking care of our elders. Nursing homes are awful places, as is living alone and not being able to leave your house much. My heart goes to the elderly who are improperly cared for or not cared for at all.

I could not agree more.

reply to post by State of Mind


State of Mind.....

I'm also thinking there could be someone like you or me working at the power Co who has made an awful mistake, whilst simply doing their job to support their family, etc...

That could haunt someone for the rest of their life.

The whole thing is just awful.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by dolphinfan


I thought the law was national but maybe it isn't, here in GA the power cannot be cut off in this situation, matter of fact a sign is placed on the power pole to notify utility workers that the power cannot be cut off.

Originally posted by space cadet
reply to post by dolphinfan

 

I thought the law was national but maybe it isn't, here in GA the power cannot be cut off in this situation, matter of fact a sign is placed on the power pole to notify utility workers that the power cannot be cut off.

Medicare also requires caretakers to check on the resident...I believe it's the law if you have oxygen tanks. (even require to put warning signs on the door, of "oxygen present" or something of that sort. My initial theory stands.

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


That's possible! And wow the guilt from that...I couldn't imagine. But it's no secret that power companies have turned power off somewhat callously before investigating a situation and people have frozen to death in their homes.

93 Year Old Man Freezes to Death Indoors

Woman Freezes to Death Alone

i used to work fo ra power company in texas. in situations like these the residents can apply for a special document stating that they have needs like this. however it does NOT, under any circumstances, keep them from being disconnected for non payment. it simply puts them at the top of the list for reconnects from power outages.

there are moratoriums in place due to extreme weather that can keep your power from being turned off. i think it's 110 or something here in texas i dont' remember. but the poles company is forced by law to wait until the weather is better to disconnect you.

you can also try waitin outside for the poles company and talk to the man when he gets there. they're usually pretty helpful.

It is always tragic when somebody dies like this, but forcing the power companies to thoroughly investigate every home that fails to pay its bills will only increase the cost of energy and give everyone an excuse not to pay.

If I failed to pay my electric bill, I would expect it to be cut off, nothing more, nothing less.

It is a shame how the elderly are treated sometimes. Working with the elderly is difficult work. It takes a lot of dedication and patience, and it is not a very rewarding career. And there are a lot of people working in this field who are not qualified to do so.

We need more people who are dedicated to their profession in regard to elderly care. I have great respect for these dedicated people. But I have no respect for the many in the field who could care less about the people they are supposed to be caring for.