93-Year-Old Man Freezes To Death In Apartment When Utility Company Shuts Down Power.
While reading The Mercury News, I came across a news story detailing the unnecessary and tragic loss of a 93-year-old Michigan man who froze to death in his apartment when his utilities were shut off due to non-payment. Evidently, the man, who may have been suffering from dementia, had been getting the money together, which was found clipped to the unpaid bills.
A "limiter" device had been installed several days earlier, which restricted the voltage available to the home, rendering the man's furnace inoperable. He subsequently froze to death.
The sheer tragedy of this story gripped me. It illustrated the vulnerability of the elderly and the potential outcome of a thoughtless, routine action from a company watching its bottom line more than its customers. If the person who had installed the limiter had just checked in on the tenant, the whole thing could have been avoided.
This was a powerful human-interest story, and a cautionary tale about the depersonalization of many of modern society's operations.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11556857?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
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