Indy Star: Family sues IPL over mother's death

[hippiechick]

Thoughts?
It amazes the crap out of me that a so-called 'public utility' is as brazen and heartless as IP&L.
When I lived in WI (and granted winters were a tic harsher) WPS had a policy that they would not disconnect anyone between Nov and April, regardless of how far behind you were. Then to come here and see people dying in fires because IP&L disconnects them in the middle of winter is like ... wtf?
And now this. Hmmmmpf.


http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070126/LOCAL18/701260451

Family sues IPL over mother's death
Utility disputes daughter's claim that woman using oxygen wasn't told power would be cut


Sonya Abrahamson knew she was in trouble when she dialed 911, but when the emergency operator answered, she didn't have enough breath to complete the call. Emergency personnel arrived at her home in Decatur Township 13 minutes later. They found her unconscious on the floor with the telephone in her hand.

Abrahamson, 57, who suffered from chronic pulmonary disease, was taken to Community Hospital South, where she died. The family is blaming Indianapolis Power & Light Co. for causing her death when utility workers cut off her power, leaving her without a functioning electricity-operated oxygen machine. IPL spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the power was disconnected because the bill had not been paid.

Abrahamson's death on July 6 was a "direct result" of the utility shutting down power to her Southwestside home without proper notice, Indianapolis attorney Hugh G. Baker Jr. contends in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Marion Superior Court. The power company, Baker claims, knew Abrahamson was on the oxygen machine because it had sent a worker to the home two months before her death to disconnect the service. The utility worker went inside the house and saw the equipment, Baker said. The family said arrangements were made to make payments.

... more at link ...

[LisaLynne]

1. My thoughts might get pretty long ...

I can't imagine losing a family member like this. That poor family. They were obviously struggling and coming from a family who has gone through periods of living well below the poverty line because of medical problems, I have a lot of sympathy for these people. It really can happen to anybody (except people like ... say the Bushes) whether or not one wants to face it.

The thing here is that this woman (whose brother depended on her) depended on electricity to stay alive more than the average person, so to cut that off over money seems to me to be amoral in a very deep sense. I think this is part of how our culture has been shaped by "corporate personhood". Somehow, the right of businesses to make money has become more important than any single person or even a group of people. I find that wrong in a very grand sense. But, I imagine that a lot of people reading this article would think along the lines that the power company had no choice -- they can't just give away power for free. People would stop paying their bills. Anarchy would rule.

I just find the whole situation really, really disturbing.

[Chiyo-chichi]

2. A travesty.

"the right of businesses to make money has become more important than any single person or even a group of people"

Well said.