Folole Muliaga - Illness and Death

Illness and Death

On May 11, Muliaga was sent home from Auckland's Middlemore Hospital suffering from terminal cardiomyopathy, 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 ".

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.