About the electric cut-off and the man's death.

[madfloridian]

Our local news covered it thoroughly tonight. I saw discussion here earlier putting all the blame on the son. Actually he was paying along on the bill, and had finished the payment on line a few days before his dad came to his home.

Now to the part I saw that having someone dependent on a machine for life....WFLA in Tampa interviewed a Lakeland Electric spokesman. He said if you are signed up for that program it "gets you a knock on the door" before they turn the power off.

The man was paying on his account. He sounded like a decent man, a little confused about what had happened.

This is our America now. You get a "knock on the door" before they cut you off power.

[napi21]

1. Sounds like another vote for national health care to me.

I don't know the details, but I'd bet the bill had to be made in payment because the son was also having to deal with a lot of expenses for the oxygen and who knows what else.

The thing that hasn't been reported is, what would have happened after the knock on the door? The son said he paid the balance of the bill online, and that the site said it would take 2 days to post. What would have happened if a rep had come to his door, and asked about the bill? If he had told them he paid it online, would they have accepted that, or not?

[madfloridian]

2. After the knock on the door,

he would have been cut-off within a couple of days, even listed as having emergency needs. I don't know about whether they would have taken his word.

The son is an older guy, looked sad, and looked helpless.

[napi21]

5. That's what I thought! n/t

[fasttense]

3. Thanks

I was one of those who posted on the original post. Wow, a knock on the door before they cut off your electricity. I thought that was the policy. Thanks again.

[ComerPerro]

4. But what was his backup plan in case of an outage?

I really don't think the electric company owes him anything

[napi21]

6. IF they don't, then why is there a program to notify the Co if there's

someone in the house with a med problem dependant on power?

Something's not quite right here.

[ComerPerro]

11. I'm not sure what you're asking me

[napi21]

17. I understand power companies have a program where a customer

can contact them and notify there is a resident in the house whose life is dependant on electric power, such as this guys oxygen. If they establish such a program, but have no intent to use it for any good purpose, what did they bother to establish the program?

I don't think it's fair to force the poser companies to provide free power to someone whose life depends on it, but I do think, if they establish a program at all, there should be some steps established on what to do on both sides, to protect the dependant person.

[ComerPerro]

21. Ok. But did the son even take this measure?

[napi21]

24. I have no idea. That was one of my other questions.

Even if he had, and he got the knock on the door, what would the power company have done? I'm very suspect of the idea that they would just have accepted his word for having paid the bill online already. I suspect they would have shut the power off anyway.

[madfloridian]

25. The knock on the door IS for the medical emergencies.

That is what the guy said in the interview. Otherwise you just get shut out without a knock on the door.

[ComerPerro]

29. Depends on the agent

Suppose he calls in right when he received the notification, and tells them about the situation.

The typical response would be to check his account history. Assuming he has a good payment record, most cust service reps would give him the benifit of the doubt and restore his service for a few days.

[madfloridian]

7. I did not come here to argue.

He had not had time to get a back-up plan. He had just brought his father home to die because he loved him. There is not much of that left today.

If you think it is ok to be cut-off even if someone will die because you can't afford the back-up plan, then that is your right.

This is one reason I have almost quit posting some places. There is a coldness in the air now.

[redqueen]

8. 80's kids...

Seems like many kids who were raised during the Era of Greed as a Virtue have a whole different set of "values".

[nonconformist]

10. Not all of us

I'm 32 and my heart breaks for that family.

I hope that this story brings about change in the way that electric companies operate as far as notification and grace periods.

[redqueen]

15. Yes, sorry... I meant many, not all.

:hi:

[ComerPerro]

12. I'm not the one suing the power company

Sure, I feel bad that the guy lost power.

But I don't think he was a victim here.

And thanks for the generalization, BTW.

[nonconformist]

13. They shut him off without a knock or phone call

For a bill that was paid-in-full.

How are they NOT?

[ComerPerro]

19. How do we know that?

He says that he wasn't notified, he says that he was up to date.

He could be lying.

[nonconformist]

27. Why automatically assume he's lying? nt

[ComerPerro]

31. Because people lie

I deal with the public constantly. A lot of times people will tell you things that you just know are complete bullshit.

[madfloridian]

32. We know that because WFLA covered it .

They took time to drive to Tampa to Lakeland, to cover the story. It was well-done. He is not lying. No one is lying.

He is victim of George Bush's America, and many will soon be.

[redqueen]

14. Observation, not generalization

I'm sorry if it offends you to have that pointed out... but I have noticed that the majority of people I've met and discussed politics with who were raised during this period have no concept of the value of things which most Dems / liberals consider pretty obvious.

I didn't mean that as a slam against you... I was talking about the shift in society over the past 20 years.

[ComerPerro]

20. Let's just say it offends me to be grouped in with them

It seemed that you were implying that about me. Maybe I misunderstood.

Thanks for clarifying.

:hi:

I do agree with your sentiment about the greed/self-obsession brought on by Reaganomics and the 80's

[redqueen]

22. Not surprising...

I should've worded that more carefully... it would offend me as well to be lumped in with shallow, selfish people.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

16. I don't think he is suing them.

Maybe I missed something locally, but I did not hear that.

As I say, I did not post this to argue for right and wrong and humanity. I posted to show he would have been cut off if he could not afford it.....no matter what. Therein lies the tale of our country as it is going now. Jobs are leaving, many off insurance, unemployment being cut....cold and heartless.

Believe what you will. There is a coldness.

[ComerPerro]

18. He will. Especially if this is getting press.

And, yes, I do see your point. But then again, the electic company has nothing to do with insurance. Granted, if he couldn't afford medical care then he would have to have his dad at his home. But it shouldn't affect his electric bill.

[madfloridian]

23. How does one argue with someone with no compassion?

One can't, I guess. It is like coming from two different places.

[demgurl]

39. That's right, no one is suing the power company.....

Unless they have changed their mind in the last few hours, the family has stated they are not suing.

[The Straight Story]

9. Sadly at times you are right

Thanks for the follow up post (I posted the original thread). I have been in and out today (and internet was down a few hours here).

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

28. Yes, he was doing his best in the America we have now.

And there is so little compassion anymore. It is permeating our culture. He looked so sad and vulnerable on the interview. This will be happening more and more to average Americans who thought they mattered.

[napi21]

33. I agree with you, but I think I see the problem here, or at least part of

it. June 12th was a Sunday. Typically, when a company says 2 days, they actually say "two BUSINESS days". That payment wouldn't have been processed muntil sometime on Monday, and the 2 days would have it post on Wed. To the customer, that looks like 4 days.

If the utility didn't say specifically "TWO BUSINESS DAYS" they were very wrong! If they did, there is some responsibility for the customer to know what that means.

Believe me, I'm not siding with the company at all, and maybe they should be forced to post a chart showing date paid on line will post on XXXX. I do think people have to be able to apply at least some degree of common sense and thought to the things they do.


I can tell you, I always pay my car insurance on line too. They have a RED warning posted on their site just before you enter your payment info. It says "If your payment is due today, you cannot pay it online and have it post to your account in time. Please make other arrangements!"

Maybe that's what all online payment sites need to do!

[ComerPerro]

34. I see your post. The fact remains that they paid late

And apparently his backup plan was aboslute shit, because it didn't work.

What would he have done if the power just went out, due to a storm or surge or anything, and he discovered that his plan was ill-concieved?

Would he still be pissed at the power company?

The one thing we know for sure:

He had a very large unpaid balance that he paid at the last minute.

[lildreamer316]

35. Please read.

(quote from article on other post)
"Richard Howerton said he was declared disabled last year with lung cancer and can't work. Joyce Howerton said she cleans houses for a home health care agency, but broke her hip in late February and returned to work a few weeks ago."


see here:www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3956998&mesg_id=3960780

[nonconformist]

36. "what if's" are irrelevant

They paid late because they're broke. Bad on them I guess. :eyes:

[Pepperbelly]

37. So what?

I really find your attitude repugnant philosophically. Your social/economic Darwinism is not only repugnant philosophically, it is based on erroneous assumptions made without so much as a 30 second google to find out the facts.

I don't know who the fuck you are to sit in judgment on someone who had paid their bill, had the backup system provided by medical personnel, who himself is a 60 year old with lung cancer and totally disabled and whose wife, who cleans houses for a living, had just returned to work after convalescing from a broken bone. I mean, what is your trip being so defensive for the fucking power company? Why so little sympathy for some very poor and afflicted people who have just experienced, at best, a terrible tragedy and misfortune while giving so much slack to the corporate pigs who decided that a knock on the door cut productivity too much, thus damaging their position on the almighty fucking dollar.

Has your milk of human kindness grown so thin and sour that you want to harshly judge these people?

a record ... edited TWICE for spelling.

[demgurl]

40. If we *must* point fingers, let's do so in the right direction.

The hospital provided the son with his backup plan which was an extra backup oxygen tank. They are the ones who know about people's health and What machines will work with what. They are the ones who sent the son home with a backup plan that failed.

Imagine the minutes after the electricity went out. He panics and wonders if it will turn back on in a minute, but it does not. He gets to his father as fast as he can ....there is only so fast you can go when you, yourself, have lung cancer. He sees his father in distress and he immediately gets out the backup system that the hospital gave him. He tries it but it fails because his father's condition will not let this type of backup work. If the backup had worked his father would be alive and as well as can be expected. He can not use his own phone since they are so poor from the cancer and his wife's displaced hip that they can only afford an internet phone line and that works on electricity. Imagine how fast he tried to run to his neighbor's house - again, with lung cancer. Think how panicked he was.

It could be argued that it was all his fault because he did not pay his bills on time but it can also be argued his father would still be alive if the hospital had provided equipment that would work with the father's illness.

We are democrats, let's act like it and have compassion for this poor son who struggled to save his father.

[demgurl]

38. Their backup plan was the backup tank they had.

According to the story they had a backup tank but it did not work.

[Horse with no Name]

30. I was one of the ones on the other thread barking that it was the SON's

fault.
However, this was done based on my misconception that the son was a young man.
However, he is also an elderly man.
We have to, as a society, do something to prevent the brutal deaths of our elderly. Whether it is by turning off their electricity, cutting off their Medicare/Medicaid, cutting our their food stamps, etc.
I'm sorry but I believe that once you reach a certain age--you should not have your electricity cut off REGARDLESS of reason and there should be a law against it.
The young and the elderly are the most fragile of our society.
It's time we give the same deference to both.