Utility Letter - Interesting Issue

[Jaywolf]

Hi folks,

Posts I have read on this forum encourage contacting your electricity company to let them know you are on a medical machine. So after struggling on their website I emailed them to let them know that I am and what machine it is. Predictably ComEd replied they wanted a Doctor's letter and what to include in it.

On to contacting my Doctor at the Sleep Center I get one of his Assistants who tells me to fax her what I need (reasonable) and asked me if I had a disconnect notice, I have NOT. She explained to me that she will ask the Doctor tomorrow when he is in the office but that he will do a letter so that if the power goes out the patient will be connected urgently, but he will NOT do one if a patient has a disconnection notice.

Sooo... if the power goes out he thinks that your electric should be connected asap, but if you could not pay your bill for whatever reason.. your power should be disconnected. Can someone tell me what the difference is? Is this moral high ground on his part? Because if it is then I don't like him and I haven't even met him yet.

Maybe there is a better explanation.. and I will ask him face to face.. but I thought this would be interesting to discuss.

Julie

[robysue]

Perhaps it's just that the doc is being realistic.

A letter of medical necessity to get a person higher on the "fix the power if it goes out during a storm" is a common enough thing and will readily be granted by the power company when they receive the proper documentation from the doctor.

But a letter of medical necessity probably is not going to be enough in and by itself if the person has a history of failing to pay their bills on time. And the doc may just not want to get caught in the middle of "who is going to pay this bill" for someone whose primary issue with the power company is a disconnection notification due to lack of payment rather than someone who is worried about what to do in the advent of a power failure.

[kteague]

It's been a few years, but if I remember correctly, that doctor's letter is only good for that one time disconnect delay. If the customer runs into trouble again and wants to apply for another delay (if utility rules allow), they need another doctor's letter. It is a measure by the utility company to prevent fraud and to assure the medical need does still exist at the time of the request for delay. I can understand that a busy doctor's practice could incur a staffing and financial burden in these economic times, especially in a sleep practice where nearly every patient is eligible to apply for the benefit just by virtue of using CPAP. But since your doctor's office asked if you had a disconnect notice, I'm guessing they were just saying they don't do a form without a disconnect notice, which is reasonable since any form would be worthless if it is not dated specific to the disconnect period. Sounds like if you actually had a disconnect notice, their answer might have been different.

The criteria for service restoration priority during power loss is different because in the time of a loss of services, things are in crisis mode whereas disconnect notices are scheduled events.

Hope this helps.

[Jaywolf]

No.. she said that they will do a form (letter) that refers to power outage but they will not do one in the event it is because the patient has received a disconnection notice.. she says he does not do those.. period.

[chunkyfrog]

Many electric utilities are businesses, and are not obligated to provide charity;
but there are agencies whose purpose is to help in the case of verified need.
You need to contact them yourself.

[Jaywolf]

I am NOT in any danger of disconnection, I have not received any disconnection notice. I did say that.

The reason I wrote the post is that to me, it just seems wrong that a Doctor would write a letter in the event that the power fails because it would aggravate your medical condition but he will not do one in the event any patient gets a disconnection notice. Yet their health is actually more at risk than those who have a temporary power outage.
I thought it might be interesting to discuss views.

[chunkyfrog]

Most disconnections are not a result of true need, but of poor planning and mixed up priorities. {{Been there--grew up!}}
If a disconnection is due to circumstances beyond one's control, then the responsibility falls to HeatShare and other charities.
One needs to avail themselves of charitable help; if that is refused, there may be a reason.
It is unfair to burden the other utility customers because a few will not responsibly apportion the resources they do have.
The electric utility is not a charitable organization.

[Foggy1]

I would guess that the doctor's policy is more about staying out of the account payment stuff. He probably doesn't want to be dragged into a billing dispute.

[JDS74]

No.. she said that they will do a form (letter) that refers to power outage but they will not do one in the event it is because the patient has received a disconnection notice.. she says he does not do those.. period.

Jaywolf,

It seems that two different issues are being discussed here and are being conflated with each other.

Issue 1: The concern about what to do to get the power company to expedite the restoration of power due to an unexpected power outage - storm, etc.

Issue 2: The concern about how to keep the power company from disconnecting power for a subscriber who is unwilling or unable to keep current in their payments for power used.

In the first issue, the doctor's office explained that they would prepare a letter describing the medical necessity for the use of electrical powered apnea treatment equipment. This will lead to the power company putting the subscriber's address on a priority power restoration list which was what was desired in the first place.

In the second issue, the doctor's office stated but did not explain why they would not become involved in such a matter. The result of issuing such a letter in those circumstances would result in the power company being constrained from disconnecting the power for a period of time, typically 30 days or so. During that period, the subscriber would be receiving additional free power AND also priority treatment if a power outage should occur during that period. It is understandable that the doctor's office would not wish to become involved in a civil matter between the patient and the power company when other possibilities for resolution likely exist. In addition, should it become evident that the patient did not have a condition for which the use of the apnea treating equipment was critical to their health ( for a power-outage night in question after all they could just stay up that night ), then there might very well be some financial liability to the doctor as a result.

[SleepWellCPAP]

I like this thread.

Jaywolf is raising a philosophical issue, in my opinion of course, about a doctor's concern as to why a person's life sustaining electricity is being (or could be) cut off. The doctor under hippocratic oath to do no harm, will only put pen to paper if the unexpected power outage is due to an act of nature, but not if his patient should run into say, unforeseen economic issues delaying payment of one's bill.

Very interesting indeed! You said you were going to ask him face to face, was he so kind as to edify us?

I suppose it would depend on how often such a thing is asked for, but if I were the doctor, I don't believe the reasoning should matter. I would be there to identify that a person would in fact need electricity or not, in the preservation of their health.

[kteague]

My question would be if you have confirmed that your utility company does indeed offer the disconnect delay for medical necessity. Not all do. If it is not an offered program, the doctor would have no reason to provide such a letter. If it is an offered program and your doctor's lack of participation concerns you, you could tell the office of your concern and ask them for an explanation. There may be a plausible explanation. I probably wouldn't let this be a deciding factor on whether I kept a doctor or not unless it became apparent there are irreconcilable philosophical differences. With the limited information available, I'd put this in a similar category as when a doctor decides to not accept certain insurances. Does that mean those with an accepted insurance should quit that doctor on principle, or because they too may one day find their insurance undesirable? I've certainly had my issues with some doctors in my experience, but when it's a business decision, I feel I have to accept that it's just business and I'm free to take my business to those whose practices I find non offensive. If you do get more information about this specific situation, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

[Bill44133]

Sometimes people who work in the doctors office don't know what they are talking about. Some talk for the sake of talking.
Sometimes, they say what they think is right when in fact it is not what the doctor wants. I have had this experience.

I don't think the doctor would care if you pay your electric bill or not.. His priority is your health, that is what you pay them for.

Good Luck

[JDS74]

I like this thread.

Jaywolf is raising a philosophical issue, in my opinion of course, about a doctor's concern as to why a person's life sustaining electricity is being (or could be) cut off. ...

An interesting leap to the conclusion that a hypothetical patient (not Jaywolf) needs life sustaining electricity when no statement that the theoretical patient ( again not Jaywolf ) is on a ventilator full time. That would be, in the apnea arena, the only circumstance that would support the SleepWellCPAP conjecture.

If he ( the hypothetical patient ) can breathe on his (or her) own without the machine while awake, then how does the lack of electricity constitute a life-or-death scenario - just a question?

I have been without electric power a few times and it's really uncomfortable. Mostly, I just stay up and hang in there until the power is restored. I just don't sleep without my CPAP machine in operating condition, powered up, etc. If the power were to be off for more than one night, I would find a friend with a couch and power and move in for the duration.

I don't think we have enough background on this hypothetical patient to go very far down this particular path.