Unplugged

From One News (New Zealand):

Mercury Energy sent a technician to Folole Muliaga's home to disconnect the power as the family was behind on their power bill.

Folole, 44, was suffering from a cardio-respiratory complaint and needed oxygen from a breathing support machine to survive.

Family spokesman Brendan Sheehan says the technician who arrived at the house to disconnect the power supply spoke to Folole and she told him she needed electricity to operate the machinery. Sheehan says the technician said he was just doing his job, turned the power off and left.

The woman died a few hours after the power was disconnected.

That has got to go down as one of the biggest "oops" moments in electrical technician history. For its part, Mercury Energy says that no one told the tech that the woman needed electricity to stay alive. The real story will probably never be known, as it is a he said/she said affair, and the she in this case is dead.

How much did the woman owe Mercury Energy? $170.

There's two ways we can look at a story like this. The first one that everyone seems to be taking is to say that big business and big government are a bunch of jerks that don't care about their customers/citizens. Killing a woman that owes you $170 dollars when you make millions a year in profit is not exactly looking out for anyone's best interests. Except your own.

But there's another way to look at this case. If you're on an oxygen machine that requires electricity to keep you alive, do you pay the bill on time, or not? And if some guy comes over and unplugs the juice, do you just sit there and die? What about picking up the phone and telling someone, anyone, that you need to borrow their power outlet or you are going to bite the dust in a few short hours?

People need to stand up for themselves. This case will have all kinds of trials and recriminations, all of them saying that the power company was evil and at fault. Who knows, maybe they were. But the woman would still be alive today if she had taken things into her own hands. First by paying the bill, second by getting help when things turned soured.

Don't sit. Stand up. Act.