So sad

PrairieMom wrote: How many ways could this have been avoided? why can't people just use their heads ?

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* Video: Elderly Man Froze To Death, Owed Utility Bill


WWII Veteran Freezes To Death In Own Home
Bay City Electric & Light Restricted Power To Man's Home After Not Paying Bills

POSTED: 2:20 pm EST January 26, 2009
UPDATED: 6:56 am EST January 27, 2009
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BAY CITY, Mich. -- Officials in central Michigan say a 93-year-old man who owed more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills froze to death inside his home -- where the municipal power company had restricted his use of electricity.

Neighbors and friends of Marvin Schur want answers as to how this could happen.

“Now that we do know it was hypothermia, there’s a whole bunch of feelings that I’ve got going through me,” said Jim Herndon, a neighbor of Schur’s. “There’s anger, for the city and the electrical company.”

Bay City officials said changes are on the way in an attempt to not let another instance like this happen again.
Click here to find out more!

An autopsy determined Schur, 93, died from hypothermia in the home he lived in for years.

Bay City Electric Light and Power sent Schur a shutoff notice through the mail a few weeks ago.

Then crews placed a shutoff notice on his front door. A few days later, Schur was found by neighbors.

Bay City Electric Light and Power, which is owned by the city, said a limiter was placed on Schur’s electrical line.

The device limits the power that reaches a home, and it blows out like a fuse if power consumption rises past a set level.

The manager of Bay City said the limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of the man's body.

The city manager said city workers keep the limiter on a house for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so.

A medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schur told TV5 and WNEM.com that Schur died a painful death due to the hypothermia.

Dr. Kanu Varani has done hundreds of autopsies, and he said he’d never seen a person die of hypothermia indoors.

A neighbor who lives across the street from Schur is angered that the city didn’t personally notify the elderly man about his utility situation.

Schur’s neighbor, Herndon, said Schur had a utility bill on his kitchen table with a large amount of money clipped to it, with the intention of paying that bill.

Right now the city said the situation is still under investigation. Marvin Schur was a World War II veteran.

A memorial service for him will take place Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. at the Gephart Funeral Home in Bay City.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: I saw that on the news this morning! It is heart breaking!

lisar replied:

CantWait replied:
Just another dispicable way our vets are treated!!!!

3xsthefun replied:

Danalana replied: Oh, how sad!

Kaitlin'smom replied: that is very sad

My2Beauties replied:

jcc64 replied: It's nice to know we're taking care of our veterans in their old age.

my2girls replied: I know this is really sad...but people should have been checking on him anyways.
He was 93 and neighbors or relatives should have been checking up making sure if there was food, heat, bills to be paid, if he was just o.k.
Even if he had no relatives, neighbors knew him. To be found several days later is a shame.
I check on the older people in my neighborhood, always have.
At least the policy is going to be changed now, to bad it had to come to this though.

Calimama replied: That's horrible!

Kentuckychick replied: That is amazingly depressing.

It's sad that the city didn't do anything, that the company didn't do anything, and, as others have mentioned, that his neighbors didn't do anything.

I know it's not a necessary "responsibility" to check on your neighbors, but everyone should. I've lived beside and around elderly individuals most of my life and I've never thought twice about making sure they're okay. I spent two years of my life cooking meals for one neighbor and checking on her daily and another neighbor had a button around her neck that directly linked to a hospital call center that would call her daughters and our house anytime she would fall or need help.

It's just something you do.
I just can't imagine living beside someone and not realizing they were freezing to death.