NH woman on oxygen dies after power cut to home

[one_voice]

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.

"She can't survive without it," Salem Police Capt. Shawn Patten said of the oxygen equipment. "They cut the power to the house, the power to whatever machine she had went out, and that was it."

There was a backup battery on the machine, but it had not been activated, he said. Such devices often have alarms indicating when power is cut, but it wasn't clear whether Phaneuf's had one.

*snip*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/25/AR2010062503592.html

[baldguy]

1. I'm sure there's no regulation against murder.

For corporations at least.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. horrifiic.

[Blue Owl]

3. Maybe the SCROTUS 5 could issue a posthumous jail sentence

just for maximum asshole effect.

[The Magistrate]

4. Some Billing Executive, Ma'am, Needs Indictment For Murder

[Mika]

16. Billing was re-sub contracted out to a foreign country, that re-sub contracted the job

They're going to have to go after a poor worker in India.

---

[joeybee12]

5. There should be a law that before any utility is cut off, the company needs to do

a check...A PHYSICAL CHECK...to ensure no physical harm will come to the resident...

[one_voice]

8. They have some policies in place...

I imagine it varies from state to state. But I agree, it's so called policy doesn't go far enough.

From the article:

Customers who require electricity for medical equipment can prevent National Grid from shutting off service by sending a letter from their doctor. Under state regulations, customers need to renew such information every 60 days; Graves said National Grid gives customers 90 days to renew.

Phaneuf's account has had such a medical notice in the past, but it was possible it had lapsed, Graves said. Graves said he didn't know whether the power had been shut off there before.

Lynch said Friday that the Utilities Commission should assess the "adequacy of policies and safeguards related to power shutoffs" and whether utilities are following them. He asked for a report by July 30.

Utilities in every state keep "medical priority lists" designed to track who depends on power for life, but an Associated Press survey last year found huge state-to-state variations, suggesting only a fraction of patients know they're available.

[Judi Lynn]

6. If they made an exception for people whose lives depend upon medical machines,

it might encourage other people to become dangerously or fatally ill. too, and fall behind in their payments.

This is unbearable.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. There are regulations against it in PA, but you have to register

with utilities as a medical case requiring electricity for equipment. I wonder if that is not the case in NH. If it is, were they registered? I do realize that many people would not know this---and my opinion is that the supplier of the equipment should let people know about this so they can register. But then again, since the battery was also not working or not hooked up, don't you have to wonder whether they could have understood it all. And I am not sure how a utility is expected to know that a life and death situation is at any random home. Tragic all the same.

[tammywammy]

17. The article says they have the same as well

You send a letter in from your doctor.

"Customers who require electricity for medical equipment can prevent National Grid from shutting off service by sending a letter from their doctor. Under state regulations, customers need to renew such information every 60 days; Graves said National Grid gives customers 90 days to renew."

[droidamus2]

9. Unbelievable

I am not in this position as far as needing electricity to run lifesaving equipment but I am at the point where we only have my SOs diability payments to keep us going until I can find employment. She does have end stage kidney failure and her meds effect her bodies ability to maintain proper temperature so if we couldn't at least run some fans or the AC she would probably have to go stay with her aunt and uncle for awhile. Gone through my saving and retirement as well. I know we are only one of the innumerable families in this situation but one thing that really pisses me off. Whether it is the utilities, credit cards, mortgage holders or whatever you could have made you payments on time and at least the minimum payments for 20 years but if you miss a couple of months of payments all of a sudden you are a deadbeat and they don't even want to deal with you (not to mention being a pain in the ass when it comes to calling you all the time). I knew I was coming to the end of my resources and the employment picture wasn't looking good so while I was still current on my bills I made sure I called the companies I owed money to and let them know my situation. Fat lot of good that did their attitude was just pay your bill other than that we don't care. Well actually one card company did lower my interest rate a couple of points. Well I do have a couple of potential jobs on the burner so hopefully things will looking up in the near future. Just had to rant for awhile.

[BeFree]

11. Oh gawd

I hope you get some good luck or something to keep you safe.

[malaise]

10. If her husband had unplugged the oxygen

he'd have been charged with murder. Corporations have all the power.

[Tx4obama]

12. There should be a warning sticker on the meter of folks that have oxygen machines.

And as a back-up the account should be tagged as 'a medical necessity'.

[sarge43]

13. My question: What did the Phaneufs do during one of our frequent

power outages? They're fairly routine here and often wide spread, so the electrics aren't back on within an hour or so. Last one in this area lasted a day and a half. If we get a big ice storm, outages can go for a week or more. Then, there's lightening strikes, falling trees or trees limbs, suicidal squirrels, etc.

If her oxygen equipment was that critical, then some provision for a backup should have been in place, like a small generator.

Not saying this isn't a tragedy, but something doesn't scan here.

[virgogal]

14. Paying the bill would have helped too.

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Yes, should have had backup, and paid bill, but there seems to be

something else wrong here, like mental capacity problems. Older people do run into problems. But the whole point is that not having it all together should not be a death sentence.

[WillowTree]

21. Ummmm.......Unless you're still celebrating birthdays in the single digits...

....53 doesn't usually put a person in the "elderly" category.

Ask me how I know. I dare ya.

8-)

[Curmudgeoness]

23. Sorry, didn't notice she was only 53. I was trying to be kind about mental abilities

of these people. It just doesn't make sense to me that they had everything go wrong without some reason. And I don't have to ask you about if 53 is or is not elderly. I have you beat by a few years myself.

[sarge43]

22. 53 is old, even older?

Even if her husband is twenty years older than she was, that doesn't automatically equate to senility.

All I'm saying is there may be more to this than reported.

[Beaverhausen]

15. It says the backup battery was not 'activated' which sounds odd

I'm thinking it wasn't charged up. My husband is a nurse for someone who is on a ventilator and they always keep a back-up battery charged up for whatever occasion might occur.

[hayu_lol]

18. Most patients who require supplementary oxygen...

usually have a couple of tanks of oxygen standing by in the event of machine failure. Doesn't sound like these folks had the bottled Ox on hand.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. PRIVATIZED British electric company, even though WAPo calls it a "utility"

"The utility, National Grid, declined to say Friday why the power was shut off, citing privacy and confidentiality reasons. But it said it was possible Phaneuf and her husband hadn't kept the company apprised of her needs."




http://www.nationalgridus.com/


"National Grid (LSE: NG.; NYSE:NGG) is an international electricity and gas company and one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world. Our core business is the delivery of electricity and natural gas (visit our Energy Delivery and Transmission area to learn more about our core business).
We are committed to serving customers well, delivering energy safely and reliably, and keeping costs low."

National Grid based in UK:

National Grid
Investor Relations
Floor 4
1-3 Strand
London WC2N 5EH
Tel: [phone] (main switchboard)

Investor Relations direct:
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

[DiverDave]

24. My reply on msmbc

"The company won't be cited??

WTF??

They MURDERED that woman, and get to walk...

I had my power cut...no warning, no notice.

I called and begged her to give me a couple of days to get the money together.

She said she was sorry, and I told her why lie, she wasnt sorry.

I can hear you fascist rethugs now, "pay your bill".

I was in the hospital, we called AND wrote the power company.

They ignored us.

They are greedy bastards, and the N.H. co. has blood on their hands."


Nationalize the power, oil and pharma NOW!