The funding for a state-sponsored birth injury program in Virginia is being debated in the state legislature. The Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program provides money to families whose children suffered debilitating injuries at birth from causes such as lack of oxygen to pay for doctor visits, therapy, walkers, and other expenses involved with caring for a handicapped child. The program has recently started running out of the funds that it was allotted almost 20 years ago. The main reason legislators say the original funding has run out so soon is that everyone underestimated how long children on the program would live. Back then, a child who could not eat, talk, or sit up on his or her own was lucky to live to age 5. Today, the oldest child in the Virginia program is almost 20, thanks to improvements in the medical field.
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Families receiving the financial aid hope the new funding will pass because if it does, it would cover the costs of the children in the program for the entirety of his or her lifetime. Right now, the estimated cost for each of the 136 children over their lifetime is $2.2 million. Legislators are trying to find a way to find a way to give the money without cutting out current recipients or benefits.
To enroll in the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program parents must agree not to sue the doctor or hospital that may have had a hand in their child’s pain. Though Florida has already adopted a similar program, some people have expressed concerns that a wide use of such a program would decrease doctor and hospital liability and make the quality of birth service people receive worse. It is for this reason that lawyers like those at the law office of Cappolino Dodd Krebs LLP are here to help families hurt by those in the medical industry. If your child is injured at birth, do not wait for a compensation program like the one in Virginia to come around—contact an attorney at Cappolino Dodd Krebs LLP at 1-800-460-0606 as soon as possible.