The government is considering
expanding the scope of its compensation program to cover more children
suffering from cerebral palsy due to medical accidents at the time of
delivery after a council managing the program found an annual surplus of
10 billion yen in the program's budget, according to sources.
The Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC), which is reviewing
the program, found that the program was covering an estimated 481
children a year, much smaller than the 800 projected when the program
was established in January 2009.
The council will start
deliberations at a meeting Tuesday on how to expand the program to make
more children eligible for compensation.
The program was launched
to address concerns that medical students are increasingly reluctant to
become obstetricians due to the risk of being sued for malpractice.
Under the program, experts will attempt to identify problems resulting
in the birth of babies with cerebral palsy and consider ways to prevent
this from happening.
Out of a lump-sum allowance paid for
childbirth and nursing from the public health insurance scheme, 30,000
yen is withheld and paid into the fund as an insurance premium. Up to 30
million per child is paid as compensation.
The program offers
compensation for babies born with cerebral palsy regardless of whether
the doctor was at fault. But babies who die within six months after
birth or who contracted the illness congenitally are ineligible for the
compensation program.
As the number of applications for the
program has been lower than initial estimates, council members have been
reexamining the cases of compensation.
When the program was
conceived, only limited data on cerebral palsy were available. The
latest estimate was made based on a wider range of data in addition to
detailed information about newborn babies in Okinawa Prefecture between
1988 and 2009, according to sources.
Data about newborns in Tochigi and Mie prefectures between 2005 and 2009 were obtained from doctors and local governments.
Analysis of the accumulated data showed between 340 to 623 children a
year should be compensated from the program under the current criteria.
As this indicates a mean figure of about 481, the council started
deliberations on relaxing conditions so more children could be covered
by the program.
Currently, those eligible for compensation are
limited to babies born after 33 weeks of pregnancy and babies who
weighed at least 2,000 grams at birth.
At the same time, a JCQHC
committee reviewing the program is concerned that fewer eligible
children have received compensation, as the recent number of
applications is lower than estimated.
At present, applications must be made within five years after birth. The committee is considering extending this deadline.
The committee is scheduled to introduce new measures in January 2015.
Source : The Japan News , 22nd July 2013
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