What The Heck??
I was reading this article about a woman in New Zealand last night. The poor woman had been ill since February and hadn’t been able to work. She’d gotten behind on her power bill and the power company cut it off. You’re probably thinking that this is run of the mill, you don’t pay your bill, you get your power cut off. But here’s the problem. The woman was on an electric oxygen compressor. When the technician from the power company came to the house, they even told him she had it and offered to let him see it! But they still turned off the power. I have two concerns here:
1. If the family knew, as they claim since they provided one of the past due bills to the police, that she was behind on her payments, why didn’t someone pay it for her knowing she was ill??
2. If that technician was told there was a compressor in there and was invited to come in and see it for himself, wouldn’t that tip you off that the people were telling the truth and that you’d better leave the power on?
Honestly, I don’t know what the world is coming to when people who are on oxygen can’t even be assured that if they get behind because being ill has cost them their jobs, they won’t lose their power and end up dying from lack of oxygen.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I think the family really should have helped the woman out. But, I dunno. People are only in this world for themselves… especially those electricity companies.
May 31st, 2007 at 9:47 pm
I think the family really should have helped the woman out. But, I dunno. People are only in this world for themselves… especially those electricity companies.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:36 pm
That is really really screwed up. I don’t know what else to say other than that. It sort of leaves me speechless.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:36 am
That is really really screwed up. I don't know what else to say other than that. It sort of leaves me speechless.
June 8th, 2007 at 7:44 am
This story disturbs me a great deal because I had a parent on electric oxygen for 2 years and it HAD a battery backup that would last for at least 8 hours and I also know for a fact that all you need is an order from your physician to stop the disconnect from taking place and that will give you more time to work things out, I think this story is bogus from the get-go and the families 1st thought of course was law suit.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:44 am
This story disturbs me a great deal because I had a parent on electric oxygen for 2 years and it HAD a battery backup that would last for at least 8 hours and I also know for a fact that all you need is an order from your physician to stop the disconnect from taking place and that will give you more time to work things out, I think this story is bogus from the get-go and the families 1st thought of course was law suit.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
My mom’s oxygen compressor didn’t have a battery backup, as evidenced by the fact that I had to switch to her portable tanks whenever the power went off in our area due to a storm. Also, our original power company didn’t accept physician orders to prevent disconnection. We had one faxed to the power company, complete with our account number and everything and they said that it didn’t matter. It depends on your power companies policy. We switched power companies after finding out that our power could still be disconnected.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
My mom's oxygen compressor didn't have a battery backup, as evidenced by the fact that I had to switch to her portable tanks whenever the power went off in our area due to a storm. Also, our original power company didn't accept physician orders to prevent disconnection. We had one faxed to the power company, complete with our account number and everything and they said that it didn't matter. It depends on your power companies policy. We switched power companies after finding out that our power could still be disconnected.