New Zealand woman dies after power company cuts off electricity supply

Muliaga, a Samoan pre-school teacher, was being treated for cardiomyopathy, or a weak heart, and obesity. She had been in hospital for a month, and was discharged three weeks prior to her death. One of the children had fruitlessly pleaded with the contractor not to cut the power because it was needed for the oxygen machine. The power company admitted that Muliaga had appeared at the door with the oxygen tube still in her nose, but her requests to delay the disconnection were ignored. The contractor simply responded, “I’m just here to do my job”, and left.

The exact cause of Muliaga’s death is the subject of a forthcoming coroner’s inquiry. A number of medical specialists have cautioned that the very ill woman may have died of causes not directly related to the failure of the machine. An Auckland District Health Board spokesman said that although the power cut had stopped the oxygen machine, Muliaga should not have been reliant on it and would not have been sent home had she needed the machine to keep her alive.

At the very least, however, it is likely that the distress caused by the sudden cut-off of her oxygen supply, coupled with anxiety about whether she could afford emergency health care, may well have brought on a fatal heart seizure. While her children called an ambulance after she collapsed—from a neighbour’s house as the Muliaga’s telephone had also been disconnected—all attempts at resuscitation failed.

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