If you have a respiratory ventilator that you need to survive...

[Ns1]

you should probably double check the backups every once in a while.

Twin brothers die when breathing ventilators fail in power outage

Authorities are investigating why twin 22-year-old brothers died when their ventilators shut down during a mass power outage in the Northern California town of Valley Springs.

The brothers, Ryan and Joshua Hall, suffered from muscular dystrophy and were dependent on the breathing ventilators for life support, Fox 40 reported. On Tuesday night, a widespread power outage hit the area, prompting their mother to call authorities for help.

When Calaveras County sheriff's deputies arrived, they found the brothers in distress and immediately administered CPR, but they eventually died.

Sheriff Gary Kuntz told Fox 40 his department was looking at a number of possibilities, including why the backup system to the ventilators failed. Residents in the neighborhood were also curious.

"They had backup systems that didn't work so it looks like there may have been a failure of equipment there," neighbor Steven St. Sure told Fox 40. "I mean, power outages are always a possibility, especially up here."

Meanwhile, the death of the brothers shocked neighbors in the small town east of Stockton.

“I heard and I just started crying,” said neighbor Kayte Dollens.

Another neighbor, Megan Dollens, told ABC News 10 said she couldn't image the family's pain.

"I honestly don't know what to think about this because it's awful," she said. "I can't image what their parents are thinking."

 

[SandEagle]

no backup of a backup? sad, RIP.

 

[Ns1]

no backup of a backup? sad, RIP.

yeah I think if I needed it to fucking survive, I'd have some manual pumps or someshit laying around "just in case".

 

[SKORPI0]

Link with video -> http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013...valley-springs-twins-on-life-support-at-home/

 

[Printer Bandit]

sad. feel bad for the mom.

 

[tcsenter]

Caregivers would be instructed on how to go manual during equipment failure using a bag valve mask respirator (with or without oxygen). Especially any full-time or primary live-in family caregiver would (or should) have been instructed here. Sounds fishy.

 

[MotionMan]

Or the mother saw her opportunity to get out from under and sabotaged the backup systems?

MotionMan

 

[surfsatwerk]

Or the mother saw her opportunity to get out from under and sabotaged the backup systems?

MotionMan

What a twist!

 

[halik]

If i was life-dependent on something like that, I'd have a generator with full gas tank and power inverter on hand every time i travel. Sorta darwin-ey to die like that.

 

[Meghan54]

Damn, so that's what I snagged my foot on Tuesday. Darned near tripped me. Twisted my ankle something fierce.