People Before Profits

    Some denounced the “callous” corporation: “This is absolutely disgusting and downright evil of any company to put money above someone’s life. The person responsible for this decision and who gave the order to carry out the disconnection should be immediately arrested and charged with manslaughter.”
    Some said the family could have done more: “The reason the woman is dead is because her family did nothing! Charges should be considered against them rather than the power company or the contractor.”
    And other’s comments were just plain deplorable: “Why can’t the family shut up and let things take its course with the police investigation? If you ask me, they seem to love the media attention.”
    These fulminations exemplify just how much misinformation and conjecture was present. On top of that, some were using this incident as an outlet for their predisposed prejudices.
    The media, as usual, exacerbated this and plagued the story with emotive language, leading to the aforementioned distortions. This article therefore, will attempt to dispel the myths surrounding this case and hopefully provoke a more reasoned discussion about her death.

The facts
The Muliaga family emigrated from Samoa in 2000. Two years later, Folole Muliaga was admitted to Middlemore hospital with respiratory failure due to her weight, and during the next few years she occasionally used an oxygen concentrator – the same machine that was to be switched off along with her power– to aid her breathing.
    It was during Mrs Muliaga’s illness that the family fell into financial difficulty. Her husband, Lopaavea Muliaga, was the sole earner and supported their four children on his income of around $470 per week (or $24,440 a year). They struggled to pay the bills and ended up borrowing from finance companies who would charge them interest rates of over 30 percent as their only collateral were household goods. Such was the extent of their situation, that Mrs Muliaga would sometimes refrain from using her oxygen machine for fear that it would use up too much power.
    During their time in New Zealand, the family was sent around 50 overdue notices or final disconnection warnings from Mercury Energy and had been disconnected twice prior to the incident.
    Despite her illness, Mrs Muliaga received her Diploma in Early Childhood Education in 2006 and by the end of the year, was employed as a preschool teacher, thereby lifting their annual household income to $60,000.
    However, her health continued to decline and she was forced to take leave from her job. By late March 2007, Mrs Muliaga was again hospitalised but released five weeks later on May 11 with an oxygen machine, which she used for up 16 hours a day before her death.
    Meanwhile, the family fell further into debt without her income and was behind on their bill payments with Mercury Energy. On May 1, her husband phoned Mercury Energy in an attempt to explain that his wife was in hospital and that they could make weekly payments of $50 into their account. The phone operator told him that they could not discuss details of the overdue account as he was not the account holder. They never heard from the family again.
    That same day, Mr Muliaga made a payment of $61.90 and another on May 17 of $45.
    A notice was sent to the family on May 23 showing they still owed the company a discounted amount of $290.79, made up of $168.40 from the previous statement and current charges of $136. The invoice stated that this was to be paid by June 13.
At 11am on 29th May, a contractor from Vircom EMS – a company contracted by Mercury Energy to carry out disconnections – arrived at the Muliaga home to switch off the electricity due to an outstanding bill of $168.40 – the previous month’s charges.
    Letitaia Muliaga, 20, one of Mrs Muliaga’s sons who was home at the time, said that she had pleaded with the contractor to “give [them] a chance” but the contractor’s reply was that he was only doing his job. He said that neither he nor his mother told the contractor that her health depended on the functioning of the oxygen machine.
    In fact, the contractor claims that he did not see the oxygen machine – a point disputed by Letitaia Muliaga – or any tubes running through the house, but did, however, notice that Mrs Muliaga had tubes in her nose, though he did not enquire about this as he thought it was none of his business.
    A serviceman for the oxygen machine says that an alarm would have sounded from the moment power was switched off from the machine. Letitaia Muliaga says that the alarm was going off whilst the contractor was talking with Mrs Muliaga after the disconnection but the contractor refutes this and contends that he did not hear such thing.
    After the power was cut, the family says Mrs Muliaga initially seemed fine but her condition deteriorated rapidly at around 1pm when she started feeling dizzy. She eventually passed out as her sons went to a neighbour’s house – who wasn’t at home – to phone for an ambulance. The children then went back to check on their mother before going to another neighbour’s house where they were successful in calling for help. It was all too late however, as when an ambulance arrived at around 1:30pm; they were unable to revive Mrs Muliaga.

Aftermath
A Coroner’s inquest was held last month to ascertain the circumstances of Folole Muliaga’s death.
    Her health became a major source of discussion as the Muliaga family contends that they were never fully aware of the severity of Mrs Muliaga’s condition. During the inquest, the Counties-Manukau District Health Board (DHB) revealed that if Mrs Muliaga stopped breathing in hospital, no attempts would have been made to resuscitate her. Neither Mrs Muliaga nor her family was informed of this.
   A senior nurse at Middlemore Hospital contested the family’s claims saying she had talked to Mrs Muliaga before she left hospital and believed that she fully understood her condition.
    Mrs Muliaga had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 65 while a BMI of only 30 is considered obese.
    A respiratory doctor for the DHB said that Mrs Muliaga could have died even when using the oxygen machine, while a pathologist concluded that Mrs Muliaga had died of complications resulting from morbid obesity, but added that the stoppage of the oxygen machine was a contributing factor.
    The contractor (who has name suppression) said that he had not gone through with disconnections before as a result of health issues that he became aware of on site. This occurred twice: once at a home for the intellectually disabled and again at a property with a newborn baby. He said that had he known that someone’s health was at risk, he would have called Mercury Energy to explain the situation to them, as he did in the last two occasions, who would’ve then agreed that the power should be left on.
    Mercury Energy has been adamant from day one that they weren’t informed of Mrs Muliaga’s circumstances. “We were simply unaware that loss of electricity to the household was putting a vulnerable customer at risk,” said General Manager James Moulder.
    The company said that they had since taken steps to ensure that something like this would never happen again, such as directly contacting customers before disconnecting their power, as well as informing social agencies of their financial hardship.

Unanswered questions
The Coroner is expected to announce his findings in a few weeks. Until then, while the inquest provided important disclosures regarding the case, a few questions still remain unanswered for this writer.
    Firstly, why was the contractor not informed of Mrs Muliaga’s condition and the oxygen machine? The contractor asserts that this incident would have been avoided if he had simply known that someone was unwell.
    Also, what occurred between the time the power was cut off and the time Mrs Muliaga felt ill? Let’s be clear: I am not saying her children just “sat around” like others have done, but am merely curious to know why an ambulance was not called sooner or why their father wasn’t contacted. Given that the contractor arrived at 11am and Mrs Mulilaga did not feel ill until around 1pm, this left ample time for them to take action.
    Furthermore, how did the family arrive at such a dire state financially? With children under 18, the family should have been receiving some Working for Families tax credits or other assistance from the government. The older children – during the period where they weren’t looking after their ill mother – could have found some employment along with their father.
    Finally, what would’ve happened if there had been a power outage? Even in this day and age, it is a remarkably common occurrence. In February this year for example, an underground cable caught fire and power was cut to 4000 customers in Central Wellington for four-and-a-half hours. Surely something as vital as an oxygen machine should have been fitted with an emergency battery?
Of course, there could be perfectly reasonable answers to these questions which weren’t revealed to the public and so this writer is basing his qualms solely on the information released to the media.

Looking ahead
The truth is, no single party was culpable for Folole Muliaga’s death. With the benefit of hindsight, everyone would no doubt have done all they could to prevent this incident. What should be done now is to look at ways to prevent another situation like this one from occurring again.
    Her death highlights the difficulties facing low-income families. Contrary to our pretensions about New Zealanders living a “carefree lifestyle”, many of us struggle to meet the basic requirements to survive. It is an indictment to our society that some New Zealanders could find themselves in a situation like this and more needs to be done to lift people out of the scourge of poverty.
    Education is the answer. With increased investment in this sector, many of society’s ills could be remedied. After all, an educated person is less likely to descend into a life of crime and poverty while more likely to look after their diet and contribute to society.
    It is conveniently election year and tax cuts are shaping up to be the main focal point. This, however, only provides short term relief for families and tackles the symptoms rather than the causes of poverty. Both major parties have, refreshingly, announced new policies to try and keep more teenagers at school or in some form of employment. These go straight to the heart of the problem.
    So when you’re in the polling booths later this year, vote for a party that both recognises poverty as an issue and offers practical solutions rather than political rhetoric to help the underprivileged. Folole Muliaga came to New Zealand expecting a better lifestyle, and while it’s too late for her, at least we all have a chance to make a difference for those in exactly the same predicaments.