Man dies of hypothermia in his own home

[Larry_OHF]

http://www.wnem.com/news/18566890/detail.html

This is the kind of world we're living in...where a WWII veteran, 93 yrs old, dies when the electric company cuts his power, so he froze to death. They say he owed more than $1000 in debt to the power company...however the only attempts to speak to him about it was a letter and a posted notice on his door.

After his death, a utility bill was found on his kitchen table along with "a large sum of money".
The poor ol' guy intended to pay the bill, but did not live long enough to do it. At 93 years old, I would imagine he might have needed some help.

I hate hearing about these kinds of things.

[Bungleau]

I hate hearing about them too. The only sadder thing will be the pathetic excuses coming from the utility and the city as to why this happened.

Rest in peace, Mr Schur...

[VulcanRider]

Now that's a tragedy. But as easy as it is to blame the big bad electric company, I think the neighbors need to share just a little of the blame. They knew there was a 93 year old man across the street, the weather was freezing, and just by looking out a window they would've seen there were no lights on in his house.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Neighbours, family and the man himself are all to blame. If you can't afford to pay the bill, move to an apartment, or rent a room; or get into a shelter even. I would guess there's a "degree" of pride here, on the man's part, that lead to the death as well.

[SpiritWarrior]

Right, the electric company has no business or obligation to check up on every customer that has no paid their bill. They do have a legal right to terminate that service, however. As sad as it is, we should ask where were his kids or relatives, as opposed to where was the electric company and why didn't they send doctors to his door?

[pritchke]

The mans wife already died and he had no children. While the neighbors may take some of the blame. How about a policy of not shuting off the heating source during the winter months from October to March. Do there shut offs in the April to September range.

[SpiritWarrior]

It's a business though. Winter is their best season financially. Do you know how many people would pay late or not at all during those months if they knew they had immunity to disconnection.

People are barking up the wrong tree even involving the utility company. Emotionally, we want to point the finger at them - for simply doing what they said they'd do when they went into business, but no judge would ever entertain such a notion.

If he had no family, then the government fucked up but also, if he did not apply for government assistance, how could they know? Why didn't he pick up the phone to organise making a late payment? It takes 5 minutes. They don't disconnect you until a few days after due date. If he couldn't pick up the phone he should have had a provider from the state to do it. So something is wrong somewhere, but it ain't with the utility company.

[Firestormalpha]

In the article I had read, they didn't shut off the power. They'd installed a limiter, like a master circuit-breaker that would cut out anytime he used more than a minimal allowance of power. I don't know what the limit was, but I suspect it would have been enough to keep the temperature at a liveable level, if not necesarily a cozy one. Apparently the device had cut out and he didn't know how to reset the device.

article

...Several days before his death, the city had placed a device on Marvin Schur's home that shuts off electricity if a certain limit is exceeded, said a city official. The device, installed because of unpaid bills, can be reset by the homeowner. For some reason, Schur had failed to reset it after it shut down his power... ...Neighbors said they didn't believe the city had explained to Schur that he could reset the device. And even if it did, Schur might suffer from dementia and have trouble following directions, they said...

Further reading of the article posted by Larry tells me that they leave the limiter there for 10 days then just cut the power. If the neighbors suspected something wasn't quite right they should have checked up on it. But then the term neighbor is used much more loosely now than it used to be. Used to be a neighbor wasn't just the guy who lived next to you, but someone you knew, conversed with, and helped/got help from.

[pritchke]

Originally Posted by SpiritWarrior It's a business though. Winter is their best season financially. Do you know how many people would pay late or not at all during those months if they knew they had immunity to disconnection.

I find quotes like this funny. Although it most likely has to do with making the extra buck before year end. Not sure if it is traded or not as it is city run so shareholders may or may not be a factor. But the ironic thing is I don't think it is any easier to get there money back after the guy freezes to death and is dead.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

..maybe they were trying to "freeze" his assets?

We had the same thing here last year. Something needs to be done for sure. It does fall to both sides though.