A tragic tale

A woman who used a mains powered a mains powered oxygen dispenser to assist her in breathing difficulties tragically died shortly after the local power board pulled the plug.

This happened yesterday, the actual disconnection was actioned by a subcontactor, who was advised of the situation and shown the powered dispenser in use by the homeowner.

All sorts of people have expressed sympathy over the tragedy, with many calls for heads to roll, including MP Sue Bradford who nows comments on any topic, now the Greens are wagging the government dog.

The underlying issue of that of the subbie pulling the plug after being directly advised by the homeowner and possibly not following special disconnection procedures, could leave him exposed to murder/manslaughter charges as detailed technically over at No Right Turn.

I would expect most power boards have some sort of set procedures to deal with this situation - this was not a short term illness - they should have been directly advised if there was critical medical situation which required power 24x7. Maybe there is a DHB running damage control as I write. You can bet the employing power board is working overtime on the spin, distancing itself from the subbie, who will be made the scapegoat and charged with everything possible.

The local Medical Officer, suggests this patient was not critical, but needed oxygen as an assist, not full time, so why did the patient or others in the house not call 111 when power went off? Why did they not see a neighbour to jack up an extension lead for alternative power? What would they do if the power was knocked off due to say an accident or other natural castastrophe? Surely an oxy bottle can be put to manual dispensing?

To get to the actual disconnection, the power board would have been through an already rigourous procedure of notification, which was not heeded by the homeowner, hence the action they took to stop them and other customers being further robbed. There is a limit to theft a company will stand, the terms of supply are well documented and we are all more than aware that disconnection will ensue on continued non-payment.

This tragic incident will hopefully give all essential services a shakeup to ensure that this never again happens. We can but hope that all events that led to this tragedy are fully investigated and a better way is found how to deal with it.