Utility disconnects power to home of teen on ventilator.

http://ift.tt/1WxhLlW

Quote:

It started as a routine call in Michigan for Clinton Township's Engine 5, a "nonemergency medical" as firefighters call it. What they found in the living room of this suburban Detroit double-wide mobile home was Troy Stone, who suffers Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a particularly debilitating variation of the muscle-wasting disease. Stone, who has limited movement of his limbs and is no longer able to breathe on his own, had a tracheotomy last December. His family has struggled financially, and they had fallen behind on payments to the local utility. Despite having a letter from their doctor's office informing DTE Energy that "there must be electrical power in the home to maintain ... life support equipment," the power was still cut off. "They said it wasn't the doctor's signature on it, it was the nurse's signature on it. So they said it was denied,"

That is a rather strong armed way of trying to get the electric bill paid.

Quote:

At first, a spokesperson for DTE Energy called the situation "unfortunate"

New definition for FUBAR I suppose.

Quote:

"This is a very unfortunate situation that we are working to rectify immediately," DTE said. "We will be working with this customer to get her the assistance she needs, which is the normal process we follow when our customers are faced with challenges in paying their bills.

Sounds like DTE Energy is still in denial.

The responding firefighters paid the mother's $1023 electrical bill to get the power restored. Not sure how fast the DTE can get power back on, I suppose the fire department may have supplied a portable generator until the power was turned on.

Other people have stepped up to helps since the fire fighter's good deed was made public.

Ranb

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1Rqi97D