stubbornforgey
05-30-2007, 11:22 AM
Hooked up to an oxygen machine and seriously ill with heart and lung disease, Auckland woman Folole Muliaga pleaded "for a chance".
But her plea fell on deaf ears and a contractor cut off her power after saying he was "just doing his job".
About 2 1/2 hours later the 44-year-old mother of three was dead.
Mercury Energy has described the death as "an absolute tragedy" and has launched an internal investigation.
"We are deeply sympathetic to the family and acknowledge the tragedy that has occurred. However, we were simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk," said James Moulder, the general manager.
Mr Moulder said the contractor spoke to the family but was not told Mrs Muliaga could be put at risk. The dead woman's family, who were last night giving police a statement, strongly disagree.
Her son Ietitaia, 20, said the contractor knocked on the back door of their Mangere home at 11am on Tuesday, saying he was there to switch off the electricity because a bill of $168.40 had not been paid.
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Mrs Muliaga - who was sitting in a chair with tubes running from an oxygen machine to her nose - wanted to speak to the contractor and so they discussed the matter in the lounge.
"She asked him to just give us a chance."
The family say they told the contractor they needed power to run Mrs Muliaga's machine, but the man was adamant.
"He says he was just doing his job."
The power was then cut. As the contractor spoke briefly again to Mrs Muliaga her oxygen machine's emergency warning blared, indicating it was about to shut down.
"He heard it but he just walked away," said Ietitaia.
In the two hours that followed Mrs Muliaga declined an offer by her family for an ambulance to be called.
About 1pm she indicated to her sons that she was "feeling different, dizzy" and asked for them to sing hymns for her.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse.
"It just happened quickly."
The look on her face said it all for Ietitaia.
"She couldn't speak at all.
"She knew it was not going to be good."
When she passed out at 1.32pm an ambulance was called. Her sons, untrained in CPR, tried to rouse their mother by slapping her lightly on her hands and face.
Twelve minutes later, when the ambulance arrived, she was dead.
We're angry at Mercury and the apparent actions of the company in coming and cutting off the power without giving her a chance to address the problem - particularly when I look at her power bill and there'd been two payments made in the last month. There's nothing in the bill about disconnection and it was only issued last Wednesday, so there's a lot of questions to be answered."
But her plea fell on deaf ears and a contractor cut off her power after saying he was "just doing his job".
About 2 1/2 hours later the 44-year-old mother of three was dead.
Mercury Energy has described the death as "an absolute tragedy" and has launched an internal investigation.
"We are deeply sympathetic to the family and acknowledge the tragedy that has occurred. However, we were simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk," said James Moulder, the general manager.
Mr Moulder said the contractor spoke to the family but was not told Mrs Muliaga could be put at risk. The dead woman's family, who were last night giving police a statement, strongly disagree.
Her son Ietitaia, 20, said the contractor knocked on the back door of their Mangere home at 11am on Tuesday, saying he was there to switch off the electricity because a bill of $168.40 had not been paid.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Mrs Muliaga - who was sitting in a chair with tubes running from an oxygen machine to her nose - wanted to speak to the contractor and so they discussed the matter in the lounge.
"She asked him to just give us a chance."
The family say they told the contractor they needed power to run Mrs Muliaga's machine, but the man was adamant.
"He says he was just doing his job."
The power was then cut. As the contractor spoke briefly again to Mrs Muliaga her oxygen machine's emergency warning blared, indicating it was about to shut down.
"He heard it but he just walked away," said Ietitaia.
In the two hours that followed Mrs Muliaga declined an offer by her family for an ambulance to be called.
About 1pm she indicated to her sons that she was "feeling different, dizzy" and asked for them to sing hymns for her.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse.
"It just happened quickly."
The look on her face said it all for Ietitaia.
"She couldn't speak at all.
"She knew it was not going to be good."
When she passed out at 1.32pm an ambulance was called. Her sons, untrained in CPR, tried to rouse their mother by slapping her lightly on her hands and face.
Twelve minutes later, when the ambulance arrived, she was dead.
We're angry at Mercury and the apparent actions of the company in coming and cutting off the power without giving her a chance to address the problem - particularly when I look at her power bill and there'd been two payments made in the last month. There's nothing in the bill about disconnection and it was only issued last Wednesday, so there's a lot of questions to be answered."