Market Turmoil Causes the Virginia Birth Injury Fund to Lose Value
The Virginia Birth Injury Fund was designed as an alternative to medical malpractice lawsuits against obstetricians, healthcare providers and hospitals involved in the birth of an injured child.
The program takes away the families right to litigation as a means of receiving compensation for past and future medical expenses and is supposed to provide lifetime medical payments to eligible children that have neurological injuries that occurred at birth, most commonly cerebral palsy.
Financial studies demonstrate that the promise of lifelong care was becoming less certain as new children enter the program, leaving some families wondering how they are going to pay for their child’s needs in years to come. This fear is now compounded by the market turmoil diminishing the value of the fund from $186 million to $166.5 million in less then one month and over $35 million in the last year.
