Get a heart, Puget Energy

In Joe Lovett's world, the little things can mean life or death.

Little things like his electric bill.

Lovett's 34-year-old wife, Lien, has stage 4 lung cancer, and he is taking care of her in their Des Moines home. She was given four months to live, more than two years ago.

She's fought it so long using an aggressive combination of standard medicine (chemotherapy) along with home-administered alternative remedies (such as flaxseed oil). The battle has put the family deeply in debt.

"I had to borrow $7,000 from relatives. I'm not sure when I'll be able to pay that one back," he says.

So last Thursday, after another chemo session, Lovett found about the last thing he needed stuck to his front door.

It was an order from Puget Sound Energy, saying pay up $369.46 within 24 hours or we'll cut your electricity off.

Even though cutting the power would shut down the saline infusion pump that aids his wife's failing kidneys.

And even though last month, his wife's doctors sent a letter to Puget Sound Energy warning that cutting power to the house could threaten her life.

"They are pretty hard-core," Lovett said Friday, in disbelief. "They're going to shut it off anyway, knowing she's in here deathly ill? I would think a big utility like that would have some forgiveness, at least temporarily, for people with dire health needs."

The utility does, Puget Sound Energy insists. Because of the doctor's letter, it placed what's called a "medical seal" on Lovett's account — basically a warning flag to crews not to shut off the power abruptly, said spokeswoman Dorothy Bracken.

The doctor's letter is likely why Lovett got a 24-hour warning instead of finding the house already dark, Bracken said. She said she couldn't discuss many specifics of his case for privacy reasons. Though it was never a given his power was going to be shut off immediately despite the warning, she said.

I don't know, taping a one-day shut-off threat to the door of a known cancer patient doesn't exactly come across as compassion in action. Plus, state law says a utility "must postpone disconnection of service ... for a grace period of five business days after receiving either verbal or written notification of the existence of a medical emergency."

Lovett says a power shut-off would have forced him to move his wife to a hospital.

To its credit, Puget Sound Energy now has agreed to extend the shut-off notice until Wednesday. Lovett gets paid Monday, so he hopes to make the payment then (he said he'll put off other creditors). He'll still be behind some $500 on his bill, though, setting up a possible shut-off showdown again next month.

Lovett is not asking to have his bills excused. He's a few months behind on his house payments, too. He's in this jam despite having a good job as a database manager at an Eastside software company, with health insurance (it's amazing how many people I hear from who are financially ruined by health problems, even when they have insurance).

Lovett says he gets that utilities can't cover for every customer crisis. Not permanently, anyway.

It's the chilliness of this exchange that unsettles him.

"Why, if you already knew someone inside was in a critical state, would you go ahead and post a notice on the door saying you're going to flip the switch?" he asked.

Lovett is an immigrant to America, from Canada. He's been through the wringer of late, so forgive him. But he's beginning to wonder about us.

"This country, the thing that makes it so great, is its heart," he said. "Don't you believe that? I just think if it loses that heart to a corporate, bureaucratic culture, it's over."

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.