'Common Sense' May Have Kept Power On For Dying NJ Grandma: Probe

NEWARK, NJ — Some “common sense” action from PSE&G could likely have kept the power on for a 68-year-old Essex County woman on hospice care, who died after the company shut off electricity to her home last summer, investigators say.

On Monday, PSE&G released the results of an independent investigation into the tragic death of Linda Daniels, who passed away on July 5, one of the hottest days of the year.

According to investigators, Daniels was in her Shephard Avenue home in Newark when the electricity stopped working at 9:45 a.m. PSE&G claimed that workers disconnected the power because their bill was “substantially in arrears.”

However, company records didn’t show that Daniels was in hospice care at the residence and using an oxygen concentrator machine that relied on electricity to function, investigators said.

Daniels’ family immediately got in touch with the PSE&G call center and told them about her medical condition. The call center representatives correctly decided that power should be restored to the home.

But that’s where “human error” entered the mix, investigators said:

“Those employees made significant, but unintentional errors in how they entered and followed up on the reconnection order. Although several members of the Daniels family called PSE&G multiple times throughout the day to reiterate the details of the life-threatening emergency, PSE&G employees failed to take steps to compensate effectively for the initial errors and to restore electric service in a timely fashion.”

Her family members put in repeated calls to the company, speaking with an assortment of representatives, “some but not all” of whom would boot the issue up to a senior representative. However, none of those senior reps spoke with a dispatcher to confirm that the reconnection was being prioritized.

And all the while, Daniels slowly died in front of her family.

"She was trying to catch her breath - she was gasping for air," her granddaughter, Mia, 28, told NJ.com. "She suffered and she passed right in front of us. She was gasping until the time she died."

Daniels passed away at 4:24 p.m. A PSE&G “troubleshooter” finally arrived at the home to reconnect the power at 10 p.m. – more than five hours later, investigators said.

• See related article: NJ Utility Board Probes Woman's Death After PSEG Shuts Off Power

INVESTIGATORS: ‘HUMAN ERRORS, FAILURES OF COMMON SENSE’

In the wake of Daniel’s death, PSE&G retained attorney Ted Wells of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison to carry out an independent investigation into the incident. The full report – as well as PSE&G’s response to it – can be seen online here.

According to PSE&G, Wells and his team were given “complete autonomy,” and “no limitations were placed on the scope of the investigation.”

PSE&G offered the following summary of the probe’s findings:

“In his review, Wells found both human errors and systemic failures contributing to the delay in restoring power to the Daniels’ home once PSE&G was put on notice of Mrs. Daniels’ medical condition. The investigation found that power was not promptly restored to the Daniels’ home in part because of repeated human errors and failures of execution and common sense on the part of individual PSE&G employees. These issues are symptomatic of deficiencies in process and culture and reflect a failure by PSE&G to develop and employ best practices in this area similar to what PSE&G has adopted with respect to responding to gas leaks. Although these issues related to the company’s response were identified, Ted Wells and his team did not find that the initial disconnection of service to the Daniels’ home was improper.”

At the end of June and going into July, the outstanding account balance stood at $1,163. From January 2018 to July 5, PSE&G made at least 20 attempts to inform Daniels of the impending shutoff, investigators said.

In addition, investigators wrote:

• “We found no evidence that the handling of the situation was in any way impacted by racial animus—Mrs. Daniels and her family are African-American—or prejudice based on their Newark ZIP code. Nor has our investigation concluded that PSE&G is, as an institution, insensitive or indifferent to the needs of individuals with medical issues that could be worsened by a power cut.”
• “PSE&G has a robust system in place to prevent electric shut-offs at homes where a resident is using life-sustaining equipment.”
• “While approximately 97.4% of PSE&G residential electric disconnections are made at the electric meter, typically affixed to the side of a residence, power to the Daniels residence was cut at the utility pole above the street. This occurred because the Daniels family kept a pit bull in their yard, which made it potentially unsafe for PSE&G workers to enter the yard to access the meter.”
• “While some call center representatives were appropriately polite, concerned and—after Mrs. Daniels had passed away—sympathetic, others were dismissive and two representatives showed a notable lack of empathy when speaking to family members.”
• “Senior management only became aware of the events at the Shephard Avenue home on the morning of July 6 after receiving an inquiry from the news media.”

One of the biggest problems that contributed to Daniels’ death was the lack of anyone willing – or able – to step up to the plate and take charge of the situation, investigators said.

“We found it significant that no one took ownership of the Daniels situation. Every company employee who interacted with the account that day performed his or her own job and then passed the situation on to the next person in line; there was no one who was assigned—or who stepped up to take—responsibility to ensure that the reconnection was seen through to completion.”

On Monday, PSE&G spokespeople said that the company is swiftly addressing all of these issues and began implementing changes before the Wells report was completed.

Dave Daly, president and chief operating officer of PSE&G, said that the utility provider takes “full accountability” for its actions.

“We have already begun strengthening every trouble spot identified in the report: our people, processes, technology and culture,” Daly stated. “We recognize and own the need to make changes, and that includes holding ourselves accountable. Changes in leadership have been made, and we increased staffing, including more senior oversight of call center operations 24 hours a day. These administrative changes, coupled with process enhancements and cultural training, have and will continue to address the urgency in holding ourselves accountable for the issues outlined in the investigation.”

Read Daly’s full statement about PSE&G’s response to “the Linda Daniels Incident” here. (Story continues below video)

KEEPING THE POWER ON

When asked about the current state law in situations such as the one Daniels faced - can utilities shut off the power for customers with life-threatening medical conditions? – a New Jersey Board of Public Utilities spokesperson previously referred Patch to New Jersey Administrative Code 14:3-3A.

NJ.com offered a summary of the state regulations for utility shut offs (which can be seen in full here). Those rules include:

• Utilities have the ability to cut services for nonpayment of a bill that is more than $100 and/or more than three months behind.
• However, utilities can't shut off service for nonpayment if there's a "medical emergency." Electric and gas utilities can't shut off service for nonpayment if temperatures are forecast to be 32 degrees or below.
• Utilities should send a "notice of discontinuance" in writing by first class mail, giving the customer another 10 days to pay the past due bill (the company can request an exemption from the BPU).
• Utilities should make a "good faith effort" to identify customers 65 years old or older and notify those residents by phone of any planned service shut off. Utilities should also gather information twice a year from customers to determine whether any life-sustaining equipment is in the home.

In the wake of Daniels' death, State Senator Brian Stack (District 33) pointed out that he'd sponsored a bill just months before the tragic incident took place that would require public utilities to notify certain officials of discontinuances in electric, gas or water service.

The bill, S-2477, was introduced on April 12 and referred to the Senate Economic Growth Committee. If it becomes law, it would force public utility providers to notify the mayor, chief law enforcement office and health officer – in writing – at least 21 days before a non-emergency shut off.

Hopefully, this would give municipal officials time to "intervene" if needed, Stack said.

"I have pleaded with PSE&G for over 20 years to change their policies and work with municipalities to prevent unnecessary shut offs," Stack said. "Residents, especially the most vulnerable, must be protected to ensure that tragedies like this do not continue to occur. My heart goes out to Linda Daniels' family, who watched her needlessly suffer."

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Photo: YouTube / CBS New York