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March 11th, 2004
"Virginia Passes Bills to Boost Funding for Birth Injuries"
The Virginia State Senate and the House of Delegates passed competing proposals in March to boost funding for a state program that pays medical expenses of children injured at birth.
About 75 children currently participate in the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program. The program is estimated to be around $140 million short of the money needed to provide for the lifetime medical care of its current participants.
The Senate passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites, R-Fairfax, by a vote of 39-1. The bills would increase the fees that doctors and hospitals pay into the program. Another bill that would raise the fees is currently sponsored by Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach. That bill would bar children from entering the program if their birth weight did not exceed 4.4 pounds-a measure that would effectively reduce the number of children eligible for the program by about a third. Tata''s bill passed 98-1.
The program was established 17 years ago by the General Assembly in an effort to make medical malpractice insurance more accessible and affordable. Children who are accepted into the program are ineligible for medical malpractice suits.
