California man, 67, with progressive lung disease died minutes after his oxygen tank lost power during planned shut-off, says family
POLLOCK PINES, CALIFORNIA: A Northern California man who suffered from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] and was dependent on oxygen for his survival died just 12 minutes after the planned Pacific Gas and Electric public safety power shutoffs went into effect on October 9.
El Dorado County Fire Chief Lloyd Ogan said fire personnel responded to the residence of 67-year-old Robert Mardis Sr. in Pollock Pines shortly after 3:30 am that morning and found him unresponsive. They were unable to revive him, with Ogan confirming that Mardis' oxygen tank required power but stating that he could not say for sure whether the shutdown was related to his death.
However, the 67-year-old's family has no such doubts. Marie Aldea, his daughter, said her father relied on the use of several electric machines to treat the progressive breathing disease, including an electric oxygen machine, nebulizer, continues positive airway pressure [CPAP] machine, and oxygen tanks.
She told Fox40 that they were aware of the impending shutoff and had been prepared with battery-operated equipment, but that they were all asleep when the power was cut off. "We were all asleep, we heard my mom scream," she said. "She was crying. My dad went down in her arms, he was going for this oxygen machine."
She said her father had mostly lost oxygen in his sleep and that several minutes passed before he woke up to reach for his back-up tank. It was this critical window which is when she believes he died. "He had health issues," she said. "He had really bad COPD, which didn't help, and he had congestive heart failure and other health issues, but the power going off and him not being able to get to his oxygen is, I believe, is what did it."
"I don't understand why they turned off the power," she added. "No winds at all. And because of that, my father is gone. Blaming them is not going to bring my father back, unfortunately. He'll never see my kids get married, he'll never see his grandchildren. How do you fix that? You don't. You can't. Something got taken away from me that I can never get back, and I will miss my father forever."
The news even reached California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said he hoped to bring those responsible to justice. "Losing a family member is horrific and to the extent, this was the reason why, I hope that is investigated and I hope those responsible are held to account," he said.
PG&E addressed the death in a statement on October 11 but said they could not confirm the accuracy of the reports and asked that anyone with questions refer to local officials in El Dorado County.
An autopsy performed on Mardis on October 11 determined the cause of death as Severe Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis. The sheriff's office announced that the power outage was not responsible for the death. They said the investigation into the death is finished and the case is now considered closed.