NH woman on oxygen dies after power cut to home [View All]

[kpete]

NH woman on oxygen dies after power cut to home

Jun 25, 6:16 PM (ET)

By KATHY McCORMACK

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A woman who needed powered oxygen equipment to breathe died after she did not pay the power bill and a utility shut off her electricity, police said Friday. State officials were investigating whether any regulations were broken.

Kay Phaneuf, 53, died Thursday at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass. She had been in critical condition since her husband found her unconscious Monday about an hour after power was cut to their home in Salem.

"She can't survive without it," Salem Police Capt. Shawn Patten said of the oxygen equipment. "They cut the power to the house, the power to whatever machine she had went out, and that was it."

There was a backup battery on the machine, but it had not been activated, he said. Such devices often have alarms indicating when power is cut, but it wasn't clear whether Phaneuf's had one.

more:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100625/D9GIILGG1.html