93-year-old freezes to death at home after utility firm limits power use

93-year-old freezes to death at home after utility firm limits power use

ca.news.yahoo.com

A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I just don’t know what to say about this sad incident. Well you say if you don’t pay you don’t get but he was a person and death by cold can’t be nice.

Apparently "Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning."

Even unpaid bills – Shouldn’t be allowed to happen IMO

and

"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbours need to keep an eye on neighbours," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."

Not working that way is it


ca.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Awful, just awful. Just goes to show that nothing is more important to big companies than the almighty dollar, not even a human life.

How disgusting.

The par of that articel that irks me the most is

"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbours need to keep an eye on neighbours," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."

So it is the neighbors fault that this man froze to death? really?

How gross.

$1,000 is alot to you and me but just a drop in the bucket to companies like that yet they let a 93 year old man die over it. Did it never occur to them that perhaps this old man wasnt paying because he could afford it? Did it never occur that mabye he needed help? There is an adult protective services for older people who are in bad situations and need help.

If this company really cared they would have done something besides limit then shut off his power, especially when its so cold out side that the temp in the house with oout power goes to 0 degrees celcius(thats 32 degrees farenheight for anybody who doesnt know)

Im just disgusted. How can the almighty dollar become more important than the life of a human being, how did we ever let ourselves become so greedy?



[edit on 27-1-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Originally posted by gimme_some_truth
Awful, just awful. Just goes to show that nothing is more important to big companies than the almighty dollar, not even a human life.

How disgusting.

The par of that articel that irks me the most is

"I've said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbours need to keep an eye on neighbours," Belleman said. "When they think there's something wrong, they should contact the appropriate agency or city department."

So it is the neighbors fault that this man froze to death? really?

How gross.

$1,000 is alot to you and me but just a drop in the bucket to companies like that yet they let a 93 year old man die over it. Did it never occur to them that perhaps this old man wasnt paying because he could afford it? Did it never occur that mabye he needed help? There is an adult protective services for older people who are in bad situations and need help.

If this company really cared they would have done something besides limit then shut off his power, especially when its so cold out side that the temp in the house with oout power goes to 0 degrees celcius(thats 32 degrees farenheight for anybody who doesnt know)

Im just disgusted. How can the almighty dollar become more important than the life of a human being, how did we ever let ourselves become so greedy?

[edit on 27-1-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Trust me I was lost for words in the OP
Your right neighbors should not be used this way. Sure keep an eye out for them but if you’re like me you may not be at home all the time. The utilities should be forced to seek permission from local government (sure it might be different in that area) usually though there is some kind of agency that could make a say or worst case take them in. I dunno something could be done should be done. Utilities should know the state of the weather and do believe me. There is no excuse I wonder if there is an excuse at law?

I believe this is already posted.

Did you try a search? Maybe its broken or something.

Thread



Cheers!!!!

[edit on 27-1-2009 by RFBurns]

Originally posted by RFBurns
I believe this is already posted.

Did you try a search? Maybe its broken or something.

Thread



Cheers!!!!

[edit on 27-1-2009 by RFBurns]

Umm cant figure it - I also looked down the thread list
No problem
Everyone go to above link
Thanks

Consider this thread closed please

well, welcome to obamaland! He even told us during the campaign that "we cant ...set our thermostats as high as we want, other countries won't like that" and yet fools still follow him blindly. Not saying this tragic incident was obam's fault, but just tells me where we are headed with things.

A 93 year old is most likely still of the mindset of working hard and not asking anybody for help, making it on their own. He most likely did not ask for help, but if he did, and he was refused help, in this new obama world we are living in, we are going to see more of this. People who need help can't get it. (unless you support obama)

Originally posted by majestictwo

93-year-old freezes to death at home after utility firm limits power use

ca.news.yahoo.com

A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by usapatriot


He didnt need help, the money to pay the bill was papercliped to the bill sitting on his table. The nieghbors belive that he was confused when the power went off and either didnt remember what the utilites people told him or wasnt able to. There is also some question as to if the utilities actually explained it to him.

Also, this wasnt a big corporation that shut him down, the city runs the electric utility.

In Canada it is illegal for the power company to do this
at least in Montreal it is
i'm pretty sure same thing for Ontario and Vancouver

The man probably never asked for a hand out in his life, the elderly are among our most vulnerable and can be quite set in their ways, but this is the lowest form of evil from the companies that supplied his power.

I can only visualize his family suing the companies pants off.

May he be resting in peace and harmony in warmth and comfort.

Sad part is though, the power company could care less. I always thought that it was illegal for the power company to cut power during winter time, obvioulsy I was wrong. The heads of that company probably have the attitude that "well he should have been in the nursing home, his problem not ours." It's disgraceful no matter what age or situation.

reply to post by majestictwo


Wasn't it Stalin who said. "One death is tragedy. A thousand deaths is a statistic."?

Why is the death of this old geezer such a big deal? Every day america kills hundreds of civilians in iraq and nobody cares. Even here in america, a hundred americans are senselessly killed on our highways EVERY DAY and most americans say - hell with it. I'm gonna speed and drive drunk and run red lights and i don't care who i kill.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Here in my corner of Kanas they can't shut the heat off from November 23rd until March 16th regardless of how big the bill is. I believe that 's state law.

Now, with the cost of medications, utilities, food, mortgage, gasoline, and communications (which are all going up) coupled with the shrinking payouts for pensions and medicare, millions of Americans are in BIG trouble.

I'm doing my part to help the economy and myself. At any given time my heater never rises above 65 degrees (18.5 Deg. Celcius) and I don't run more than 3 CFL bulbs, my computer, and my stereo. I turned my water heater down 30%, I turned my fridge down and filled milk jugs with water to store in there, creating more surface area and letting it maintain temp better. I'm doing everything I can to try and keep my small home's gas bill under $200/mo throughout the cold months. So far it's proving to be quite the chore!!

Now, when state retirement pays you $600-700/mo to live on, and your medications cost half that easily, how does one carry on?

Wonderful to live here in the United States, isn't it?

I still love life, but stuff like this, is just unacceptable.

We got an unreasonable electric bill increase. But don't worry, we get a refund. $4 folks.

I believe we should strive to make life as abundant as we want it, but the fact still remains, some older folks are on fixed incomes. How do they pay an ever rising electric bill, without the extra money?

Some "ass for a mouth" executive at the electric company decided it was time to limit electricity in the middle of the Winter on a 93 year old man. How do you do that? These execs cash big checks, but they don't give a crap about anyone else. You are just one number in a long line of other people who are also numbers, who are just there to pay them money. Just like the oil company execs.

This isn't a rant against rich people, this is a rant against greed. The necessities should be accessible to as many people as possible. How much profit per household does the electric company need to have before it's enough?

Troy

[edit on 28-1-2009 by cybertroy]

I'm sure the poor old man was doing everything that he could do. I don't see how some of the older people make it as well as they do with no more than they get. I hope the family sues the pants off the power company.

Originally posted by MBF
I'm sure the poor old man was doing everything that he could do.

How do you know that? Wouldn't surprise me if he was alky who spent $20 a day on booze.

reply to post by Make Speed Limit 45


UPDATE ON THIS STORY.

Apparently, this gentleman was a var veteran who had been awarded the Purple Heart and had no shortage of money.

Sometimes the mind wanders in the later years, and I only hope and pray you don't find yourself in a similar situation later on with others making the same horrible accusations.

For shame.


*edit for grammar

[edit on 1/29/09 by GENERAL EYES]

Originally posted by Make Speed Limit 45
reply to post by majestictwo

 

Wasn't it Stalin who said. "One death is tragedy. A thousand deaths is a statistic."?

Why is the death of this old geezer such a big deal? Every day america kills hundreds of civilians in iraq and nobody cares. Even here in america, a hundred americans are senselessly killed on our highways EVERY DAY and most americans say - hell with it. I'm gonna speed and drive drunk and run red lights and i don't care who i kill.

Why is it a big deal? Oh, I don't know... because most of us have a heart, and the death of one person is as important as many deaths.
Especially one that is a result of a simple bill not being paid on time...

Man, some of the posts I read on here are ridiculous....

The man paid his bill for 50 years, no problems. They could have knocked on the door and spoke to him. No, they just installed the limiter in the middle of Winter. My god, the electric company should have known he was elderly as well.

Truthfully, though, he may have needed someone keep an eye on him. Just make sure he kept things like his electric bill paid. Sometimes people aren't as sharp when they get older.

In all fairness, the person who left the note may not have had the information that the man was elderly, and just assumed he would open the door, or maybe come back home from somewhere and see the note.

There still is no excuse, they should have made sure that someone talked to him or a relative, or someone before they just installed a limiter. It is Winter, even young people could die from exposure to extreme temperatures.

Troy

reply to post by Make Speed Limit 45


Exactly how many 93 year old drunks have you ever seen? I've seen a lot that looked like they were 93, but were WAY younger.