Florida lawmakers send lifeline to families with brain-damaged children Daniel Chang and Carol Marbin Miller, The Miami Herald
Apr. 30 After a dramatic and emotional 72 hours in Tallahassee, Florida lawmakers late Thursday approved a sweeping overhaul of the state s controversial compensation program for catastrophically brain-damaged newborns, agreeing to a package of reforms meant to improve the lives of struggling families.
The legislation revamping the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA, delivers new benefits and protections for 215 families in the program, including mental health services, representation on the board of directors and retroactive compensation of $150,000.
The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis. If he signs the legislation, the new provisions will take effect immediately.
Florida Lawmakers Send Lifeline to Families With Brain-Damaged Children propublica.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from propublica.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A neonatal intensive care unit. (Brad Greenlee/Flickr)
A birth gone horribly wrong left Jasmine Acebo with profound brain damage and a bleak future, one defined by wheelchairs, mechanical airways, feeding tubes, frequent hospitalizations, in-home nursing and constant pain.
Unable to work, her overwhelmed mother became dependent on food stamps and sometimes cash assistance. She watched helplessly when her newborn convulsed with seizures. She saw her daughter turn blue and nearly suffocate during a feeding.
A Florida program promised help: medical care, money for expenses a lifeline of support.
But that help, said Yamile “Jamie” Acebo, was often delayed, denied or deficient. And it included what she viewed as a shameful suggestion from a program administrator making a home visit: Would Acebo wish to place her daughter in an institution? The thought of Jasmine, surrounded by strangers and not the mother who loved her, was horrifying.
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The year that was
As 2020 comes to a close, join WUFT News in looking back on some of the stories that defined the year. Here’s a glimpse into some of the stories that made headlines this year:
Florida legislation
Florida’s Cabinet of top elected leaders hadn’t met face-to-face in Tallahassee since February. (Lauren Witte/Fresh Take Florida)
The year started off with reporters traveling from Gainesville to the state capitol to follow and report on bills as they moved through the legislative session, such as one of the first bills to be signed into law that kept any homeowners association or community entity from preventing a law enforcement office to park a marked vehicle at their homes.