KEY POINTS:
A young man heard his mother plead with an electricity contractor to "please, give us a chance" the day the power was disconnected, rendering useless an oxygen machine she used up to 16 hours a day.
Letitaia Muliaga yesterday told an Auckland Coroner's Court hearing of being at
home with his mother, Folole Muliaga, on May 29 last year, when the contractor - whose name is suppressed - arrived.
Mr Muliaga said he had taken the man inside to speak with Mrs Muliaga, at her request. He subsequently heard his mother ask "please, give us a chance", then later heard the contractor say he was just doing his job.
There was also discussion about a discount, the court heard.
Mrs Muliaga died that day after the Mercury Energy agent - employed by subcontractor Vircom - cut the power to the house because of an unpaid power bill totalling $168.40.
Mr Muliaga said he and the contractor would have had to step over breathing tubes that snaked through the house from Mrs Muliaga's bedroom, where the machine was housed.
He also said the machine beeped constantly after the power was cut, which the contractor must have heard.
At one point, Mr Muliaga became too upset to continue reading his brief, leaving it to his lawyer, Moira McNab.
Mr Muliaga said his mother had died "in his hands" after earlier becoming dizzy.
Under cross-examination by Vircom lawyer Garth Gallaway, he said neither he nor his mother had told the contractor she was unwell, and reliant on the machine.
The court also heard other discussion of how much Mrs Muliaga needed the machine.
Pathologist Timothy Koelmeyer agreed with Mercury parent company Mighty River Power's lawyer Adam Ross that Mrs Muliaga would not have been discharged from hospital just weeks earlier if medical staff believed she was totally reliant on the device.
Dr Koelmeyer said Mrs Muliaga had died of morbid obesity, causing heart arrhythmia, with the stopping of the oxygen machine a contributing factor.
He told the court he largely agreed with an autopsy report by pathologist Llloyd Denmark, but would have placed more emphasis on the cutting of power to Mrs Muliaga's oxygen machine as factor in her death.
"In my view, this lady was living on the very edge ... I think when there's a reduction in this oxygen delivery, it set the stage for a sudden disturbance of heart rhythm."
He said it was unusual that Dr Denmark had not requested a reading from Mrs Muliaga's oxygen machine, and he would have expected police to have had the equipment examined.
"It's almost a matter of common sense."
Dr Koelmeyer also discussed the specifics of Mrs Muliaga's health, which included evidence she was suffering congestive heart failure, and had a body mass index of 65.
A BMI of 30 is considered obese, a BMI of 40, morbidly obese.
The hearing is set down for two weeks.
