Folole Muliaga
Encyclopedia
Folole Muliaga was a Samoan schoolteacher living in Manukau
, New Zealand
. She was terminally ill with obesity-related heart and lung disease and using a home oxygen machine
. She died less than three hours after the electricity supply from state-owned
Mercury Energy
was disconnected to her house due to an outstanding balance. The circumstances of her death brought the case to national attention in New Zealand and internationally.
, and was a pre-school teacher.
, after being in hospital since late March. Doctors believed that she did not have much longer to live. She had first been admitted to hospital in 2002, with acute respiratory failure, related to her "gross obesity". On previous occasions she had used traditional Samoan health care instead of prescribed medication. Her doctors say that when she was discharged, she was not so ill that the oxygen machine was critical to her survival. Over the past five years she had been told repeatedly that her diet and lifestyle needed to change for her health to improve. The doctor who treated her the first time she was admitted to hospital believed that she only had one to three years, the normal prognosis for patients in her condition. He also stated that for people with such severe obesity (Muliaga weighed up to 210 kg), it is difficult to lose such weight permanently as it is a "disease to gain as much weight as she did". In conjunction with the oxygen concentrator, she had used a BiPAP machine.
On May 29 a contractor for VirCom EMS was sent by Mercury Energy to the Muliaga's house to disconnect the electricity supply. There was an outstanding balance of NZ$168.40. The family had made two payments totaling $106.90 in the last month on their balance, but according to statements later made by Mercury, the outstanding balance was accruing faster than the family were paying it off. The $168 did not include the current month's charges of $136. The family believed they had to June 13 to pay the total amount. In early May, Mr Muliaga had contacted Mercury Energy while his wife was in hospital to discuss the overdue account. But due to the Privacy Act, they would only discuss it with the account holder, who was Mrs Muliaga.
Up until she qualified as a teacher, the TB and Chest Association, paid $35 of the electricity bill. While she had been studying, her husband had supported the family on an income of $24,000 per year. They had used high-interest (30%), short-term loans to get needed money. Once Muliaga had qualified as a teacher, the combined income rose to $60,000. However when she became ill and had to be hospitalised in early 2007 the family's income was once again reduced to $24 000 per year.
According to the eldest son, the contractor arrived at about 11 a.m. and the family made him aware of Muliaga's medical condition. The family have stated they told the contractor that the oxygen supply needed electricity to continue, but he responded that he was "just doing my job". The contractor said that he saw a medical tube to her nose, but it was not connected to any equipment. He claims that he was not made aware of any need for the oxygen supply. According to the Herald on Sunday newspaper, the police investigation into the death confirmed the contractor's story.
The telephone service to the house had already been disconnected. Although Telecom
would not go into specifics of the Muliaga's case, they did state that in general they would "talk to customers and offer budget advice and refer them to budgeting services". This lack of a working telephone in the house meant it was too late to save Muliaga when emergency services were finally contacted. Also compounding the issue was that Muliaga told her sons not to worry, and instructed them not to call an ambulance. When she passed out at 1:30 p.m., the two sons decided to ring but they had to go to an elderly neighbour. Muliaga's husband stated that "as you know Samoans are very respectful of imposing on others, especially if the neighbours aren't Samoan — they're Papalagi [European]".
It was her nephew, Brenden Sheehan, who brought the case to national attention. He said he went to the media the night of the death in the hopes of finding an after-hours number for Mercury Energy to get to electricity supply reconnected. That same evening, a Victim Support worker also telephoned Mercury requesting that the electricity be reconnected. A supervisor at the call-centre said that "she may have passed away in the last couple of days but… I know it's been hard but it's irrelevant" and that the electricity would not be reconnected until further payments were made.
Headquarters (Samani Pulepule
Convention Centre) was attended by about 1000 people. Mourners included Prime Minister
Helen Clark
and Manukau Mayor Barry Curtis
, and executives from Mercury Energy
and parent company Mighty River Power, including chief executive Doug Heffernan. Her casket donated by Sovereign Industries, and Mercury Energy provided a cheque for $10000 to the cost of the funeral. A large group of executives from the company and its parent visited the Muliaga's home on June 1 to offer their condolences. This was the same day that the Prime Minister also visited.
The police announced 12 June that there was no evidence to justify any charge against the company, contractor or staff member involved.
The Coroner ruled Muliaga died of natural causes relating to being morbidly obese - but the stress of having her power disconnected and not being able to use her oxygen machine contributed to her death. He criticized Mercury and Manukau DHB
for their part in her death. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/2103100
The contractor was placed on stress leave and received counselling. The family have stated they do not want any disciplinary or criminal actions taken against him and invited him to the funeral. They are also against the police investigation into the matter, believing that the "public interest is not served by a criminal investigation to blame any individual for this tragedy", instead believing any investigation should be into the electricity companies and their practices.
Mercury Energy sent a letter to its 300,000 customers on 16 June, signed by Carole Durbin, chairwoman of Mighty River Power, stating that "Mercury Energy and Mighty River Power deeply regret what occurred".
The Electricity Commission
(now the Electricity Authority
) issued new guidelines in July 2007 stating consumers who are dependent on electricity for critical medical support should state so to their electricity retailer and are not to be disconnected for non-payment. However, it also recommended that medically dependent consumers should regularly test their back-up batteries and have an emergency plan in case of a prolonged blackout
.
Manukau
Manukau City was a large territorial authority in Auckland, New Zealand. The city was sometimes referred to as South Auckland, but this term did not possess official recognition and did not encompass areas like East Auckland, which was previously within the official boundaries of Manukau City...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. She was terminally ill with obesity-related heart and lung disease and using a home oxygen machine
Oxygen concentrator
An oxygen concentrator is a device providing oxygen therapy to a patient at minimally to substantially higher concentrations than available in ambient air. They are used as a safer, less expensive, and more convenient alternative to tanks of compressed oxygen. Common models retail at around US$800...
. She died less than three hours after the electricity supply from state-owned
State-Owned Enterprises of New Zealand
State-owned enterprises in New Zealand are registered companies listed under Schedules 1 and 2 of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986...
Mercury Energy
Mercury Energy
Mercury Energy is the retail operating division of Mighty River Power, a New Zealand State-owned enterprise. It retails electricity and gas to customers, primarily in the North Island of New Zealand...
was disconnected to her house due to an outstanding balance. The circumstances of her death brought the case to national attention in New Zealand and internationally.
Family background
Muliaga; her husband, Lopaavea Muliaga, and four children, Ietitaia (aged 20 at the time of her death), Desmond (18), Eden (7), had moved to New Zealand in 2000, looking for a better life. A further child was born in New Zealand, and was aged five at the time of her death. She had a University diploma in early childhood educationPreschool education
Preschool education is the provision of learning to children before the commencement of statutory and obligatory education, usually between the ages of zero and three or five, depending on the jurisdiction....
, and was a pre-school teacher.
Illness and death
On May 11, Muliaga was sent home from Auckland's Middlemore Hospital suffering from terminal cardiomyopathyCardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy, which literally means "heart muscle disease," is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium for any reason. People with cardiomyopathy are often at risk of arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death or both. Cardiomyopathy can often go undetected, making it especially dangerous to...
, after being in hospital since late March. Doctors believed that she did not have much longer to live. She had first been admitted to hospital in 2002, with acute respiratory failure, related to her "gross obesity". On previous occasions she had used traditional Samoan health care instead of prescribed medication. Her doctors say that when she was discharged, she was not so ill that the oxygen machine was critical to her survival. Over the past five years she had been told repeatedly that her diet and lifestyle needed to change for her health to improve. The doctor who treated her the first time she was admitted to hospital believed that she only had one to three years, the normal prognosis for patients in her condition. He also stated that for people with such severe obesity (Muliaga weighed up to 210 kg), it is difficult to lose such weight permanently as it is a "disease to gain as much weight as she did". In conjunction with the oxygen concentrator, she had used a BiPAP machine.
On May 29 a contractor for VirCom EMS was sent by Mercury Energy to the Muliaga's house to disconnect the electricity supply. There was an outstanding balance of NZ$168.40. The family had made two payments totaling $106.90 in the last month on their balance, but according to statements later made by Mercury, the outstanding balance was accruing faster than the family were paying it off. The $168 did not include the current month's charges of $136. The family believed they had to June 13 to pay the total amount. In early May, Mr Muliaga had contacted Mercury Energy while his wife was in hospital to discuss the overdue account. But due to the Privacy Act, they would only discuss it with the account holder, who was Mrs Muliaga.
Up until she qualified as a teacher, the TB and Chest Association, paid $35 of the electricity bill. While she had been studying, her husband had supported the family on an income of $24,000 per year. They had used high-interest (30%), short-term loans to get needed money. Once Muliaga had qualified as a teacher, the combined income rose to $60,000. However when she became ill and had to be hospitalised in early 2007 the family's income was once again reduced to $24 000 per year.
According to the eldest son, the contractor arrived at about 11 a.m. and the family made him aware of Muliaga's medical condition. The family have stated they told the contractor that the oxygen supply needed electricity to continue, but he responded that he was "just doing my job". The contractor said that he saw a medical tube to her nose, but it was not connected to any equipment. He claims that he was not made aware of any need for the oxygen supply. According to the Herald on Sunday newspaper, the police investigation into the death confirmed the contractor's story.
The telephone service to the house had already been disconnected. Although Telecom
Telecom New Zealand
Telecom New Zealand is a New Zealand-wide communications service provider , providing fixed line telephone services, a mobile network, an internet service provider , a major ICT provider to NZ businesses , and a wholesale network infrastructure provider to other NZ CSPs...
would not go into specifics of the Muliaga's case, they did state that in general they would "talk to customers and offer budget advice and refer them to budgeting services". This lack of a working telephone in the house meant it was too late to save Muliaga when emergency services were finally contacted. Also compounding the issue was that Muliaga told her sons not to worry, and instructed them not to call an ambulance. When she passed out at 1:30 p.m., the two sons decided to ring but they had to go to an elderly neighbour. Muliaga's husband stated that "as you know Samoans are very respectful of imposing on others, especially if the neighbours aren't Samoan — they're Papalagi [European]".
It was her nephew, Brenden Sheehan, who brought the case to national attention. He said he went to the media the night of the death in the hopes of finding an after-hours number for Mercury Energy to get to electricity supply reconnected. That same evening, a Victim Support worker also telephoned Mercury requesting that the electricity be reconnected. A supervisor at the call-centre said that "she may have passed away in the last couple of days but… I know it's been hard but it's irrelevant" and that the electricity would not be reconnected until further payments were made.
Funeral
Her funeral at the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand IncorporatedSamoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated
The Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand Incorporated are a group of Pentecostal churches predominately made up of Samoan people. Established in New Zealand in the early 1960s by a group of Pentecostals from Samoa bringing the message of Pentecostalism to their Samoan people living in New Zealand...
Headquarters (Samani Pulepule
Samani Pulepule
Dr Samani Pulepule was a Samoan minister since the early 1960's in the Assemblies of God movement. Dr Pulepule was also the General Superintendent of the Samoan Assemblies of God in New Zealand for over 40 years. Recently during a World Conference in Samoa in 2006, Dr Pulepule was elected as the...
Convention Centre) was attended by about 1000 people. Mourners included Prime Minister
Prime Minister of New Zealand
The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
Helen Clark
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
and Manukau Mayor Barry Curtis
Barry Curtis
Sir Barry Curtis was the Mayor of Manukau from 1983 until 2007. When he announced his intention to retire in 2007, he was New Zealand's longest serving mayor at that time.-Career:...
, and executives from Mercury Energy
Mercury Energy
Mercury Energy is the retail operating division of Mighty River Power, a New Zealand State-owned enterprise. It retails electricity and gas to customers, primarily in the North Island of New Zealand...
and parent company Mighty River Power, including chief executive Doug Heffernan. Her casket donated by Sovereign Industries, and Mercury Energy provided a cheque for $10000 to the cost of the funeral. A large group of executives from the company and its parent visited the Muliaga's home on June 1 to offer their condolences. This was the same day that the Prime Minister also visited.
Aftermath
The actions of the police, who conducted an investigation into the death, upset the family. The family claimed that police showed had a "lack of cultural awareness" and had "institutionalised racism", conducting the interviews in English, the second language of the family. These allegations were denied by the police, who said when they spoke to the two eldest sons, the interview was conducted by a Samoan officer, and the men chose to speak in English.The police announced 12 June that there was no evidence to justify any charge against the company, contractor or staff member involved.
The Coroner ruled Muliaga died of natural causes relating to being morbidly obese - but the stress of having her power disconnected and not being able to use her oxygen machine contributed to her death. He criticized Mercury and Manukau DHB
District Health Board (New Zealand)
District Health Boards in New Zealand are organisations established by the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000, responsible for ensuring the provision of health and disability services to populations within a defined geographical area. They have existed since 1 January 2001 when the ...
for their part in her death. http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/2103100
The contractor was placed on stress leave and received counselling. The family have stated they do not want any disciplinary or criminal actions taken against him and invited him to the funeral. They are also against the police investigation into the matter, believing that the "public interest is not served by a criminal investigation to blame any individual for this tragedy", instead believing any investigation should be into the electricity companies and their practices.
Mercury Energy sent a letter to its 300,000 customers on 16 June, signed by Carole Durbin, chairwoman of Mighty River Power, stating that "Mercury Energy and Mighty River Power deeply regret what occurred".
The Electricity Commission
Electricity Commission (NZ)
The New Zealand Electricity Commission was a government authority set up in 2003 to regulate the Electricity sector in New Zealand.The Commission was established under the Electricity Act to regulate the operation of the electricity industry and markets in accordance government energy policy...
(now the Electricity Authority
Electricity Authority (NZ)
The New Zealand Electricity Authority is an Independent Crown Entity responsible for the regulation of the New Zealand electricity market.In Authority was established in November 2010, following a government review of the electricity industry, and has a narrower focus on industry competition,...
) issued new guidelines in July 2007 stating consumers who are dependent on electricity for critical medical support should state so to their electricity retailer and are not to be disconnected for non-payment. However, it also recommended that medically dependent consumers should regularly test their back-up batteries and have an emergency plan in case of a prolonged blackout
Power outage
A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
.