“She wasn’t ready to die”: Son speaks after mum on life support dies during power outage
A grieving son is calling for energy companies to do better after his mum, Gloria Shae, 80, who was on life support, died during a power outage in Dubbo.
Gloria was found collapsed on the floor after her oxygen machine switched off during an unexpected blackout at around 5am on May 8.
The great-grandmother was woken up out of a deep sleep and was later on found trying to reach for her bottled oxygen.
Now, her son Brian Shae, has spoken up about the tragic incident and is calling for energy companies to do better.
"She wasn't ready to die," Brian said.
"She was full of life and energy, she had planned what she was doing the next day.
He said that his mother was a registered life support customer with Origin Energy and Essential Energy.
Neither Brian, who lives in the same property, nor Gloria were notified about the outage by their energy providers.
"If there was some sort of automated system that sent out a text message, I could have been there in 30 seconds, in under a minute,” the grieving son said.
"We could have assisted her, we could have got her oxygen bottles to her.
"She does have oxygen bottles in the home but at night you rely on the oxygen generator."
Although emergency services arrived about 15 minutes after Gloria was found, and they managed to restart her heart, Brian said that by then she was already brain dead.
Gloria’s oxygen machine was rented and didn't come fitted with a back-up battery.
Providers currently only need to give customers using life support four days' notice if there is a planned power outage, but in the case of a blackout there is nothing in place to contact their customers or the next of kin.
Instead, they urge vulnerable customers to have a back-up battery or generator, to call triple-zero in an emergency, and to “have contingency plans in place”.
“But how could an 80-year-old lady who has woken up out of a deep sleep (and) short of breath manage to go out (and) start a generator?” Brian asked.
Health Minister Ryan Park described the death as a “terrible tragedy” and said that he has spoken with NSW Health. The Health Minister also encouraged energy companies to find better ways to support vulnerable customers.
“If there’s anything that we could have done differently, we will look at that,” he added.
An Essential Energy spokesperson has also commented and said that the team had personally contacted the family to extend their "deepest condolences".
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