{"id":314445,"date":"2021-09-16T17:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/the-director-of-floridas-program-for-brain-damaged-infants-has-resigned#1122319"},"modified":"2021-09-16T17:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T17:45:00","slug":"the-director-of-floridas-program-for-brain-damaged-infants-has-resigned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/09\/16\/the-director-of-floridas-program-for-brain-damaged-infants-has-resigned\/","title":{"rendered":"The Director of Florida\u2019s Program for Brain Damaged Infants Has Resigned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n by Carol Marbin Miller<\/span> and Daniel Chang<\/span>, Miami Herald<\/a> <\/p>\n ] \n\n \n

This article was produced for ProPublica\u2019s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Miami Herald<\/a>. Sign up for Dispatches<\/a> to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.<\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n\n\n\n \n

On the eve of what was expected to be a contentious board of directors meeting, the head of Florida\u2019s compensation program for brain-damaged children abruptly resigned.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Kenney Shipley, who has overseen the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA, for nearly two decades, announced her resignation in a letter Wednesday. It takes effect Jan. 4, 2022, though Shipley intends to claim accrued leave time after an interim director is appointed.<\/p>\n \n \n \n\n\n

Never miss the most important reporting from ProPublica\u2019s newsroom. Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n\n \n \n \n \n

\u201cI feel grateful and honored to have been able to serve the very special families that I have worked with over the years,\u201d Shipley wrote in her letter ahead of a Thursday meeting. \u201cMany have been my heroes and taught me what real strength and character are.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Shipley, a former insurance adjuster, had been facing intense criticism since April when the Miami Herald, in partnership with the investigative newsroom ProPublica, began publishing a series of stories<\/a> about the program, created by the Florida Legislature in 1988 to immunize obstetricians from the financial consequences of catastrophic births.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n

The investigation by the news organizations<\/a> detailed how NICA had amassed nearly $1.5 billion in assets while administrators often refused requests large and small \u2014 for medication, medical equipment, wheelchairs, therapy and in-home nursing for children with breathing tubes. The series showed administrators spent thousands of dollars in legal fees to avoid spending hundreds for care.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Under the NICA statute \u2014 one of only two such laws in the nation \u2014 parents lost the right to sue their doctor or hospital under certain circumstances when their child was born with severe brain damage from oxygen deprivation or spinal injury. In exchange for that loss, parents were promised \u201cmedically necessary\u201d and \u201creasonable\u201d medical care for the life of their children.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

After the series published, Florida lawmakers passed sweeping legislation<\/a> to reform the program, delivering new benefits and protections to the more than 200 Florida families with children covered by NICA, including mental health services, representation on the board of directors and retroactive compensation of $150,000 for parents whose children are still alive and in the program. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation<\/a> into law in June.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Alex Sink, Florida\u2019s chief financial officer from 2006 to 2010, said she is encouraged by the changes at NICA. Sink had criticized the program as a \u201cscam\u201d and accused NICA\u2019s leaders of having misplaced priorities that emphasized the financial growth of the program over meeting the needs of families.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

\u201cIt gives me hope that maybe these people who are supposed to represent us in Tallahassee occasionally have a conscience,\u201d Sink said. \u201cIt\u2019s a long time coming.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Aside from the new law, NICA must contend with an angry Legislature and intense oversight from Florida\u2019s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose office is performing a \u201cmarket conduct operational audit\u201d to determine \u201cthe extent to which NICA\u2019s claim-handling practices comply with [the program\u2019s] statutory mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Patronis also appointed his consumer advocate, Tasha Carter, to represent families in disputes with NICA administrators over care and services.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n

After lawmakers appeared to reproach Shipley by requiring the program to operate \u201cin a manner that promotes and protects the health and best interests of children,\u201d Shipley continued to anger parents and regulators.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Though the Legislature had imposed no conditions on NICA families receiving a $150,000 cash supplement, Shipley at first insisted that parents sign a \u201cperjury statement\u201d \u2014 an attestation that the signer was not committing fraud \u2014 before they could claim the benefit. The statements, which invoked the specter of criminal prosecution, infuriated many parents.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

In a June 21 email obtained by the Herald, Carter told Shipley that \u201cto require the parents and legal guardians to sign a Perjury Statement in order to receive the award creates stipulations that are not in law. Would NICA withhold the disbursement of the parental award if a parent or legal guardian refused to sign the Perjury Statement?\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Carter asked Shipley to \u201cimmediately discontinue the requirement\u201d and to notify families that the perjury statement was no longer required.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Shipley did not publicly address the concerns from Carter. Before the change in the law, NICA alleged that it required families to sign such statements \u201cafter unfortunate instances of some claimants falsifying documents and misrepresenting payments when seeking reimbursement,\u201d but it would not provide specifics when asked by Herald reporters.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

Shipley\u2019s departure occurs at a crucial moment: The program\u2019s governing board of directors was expanded from five to seven at the same time the members of the previous board, dominated by representatives of the health care and insurance industries, quit amid a new provision in the law setting term limits.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

The board\u2019s interim chairman, Jim DeBeaugrine, said Wednesday that the new board is prepared for the work ahead, which includes recruiting an executive director, creating a new agency culture that emphasizes service to parents and implementing the mandates of an entirely new governing statute.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very important job,\u201d DeBeaugrine said of the next leader. \u201cIt will be the executive director of an organization with $1.5 billion in investments. More important than that are the lives we are supporting. The families. We want to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

One of the families the new board will be supporting includes the mother and two sisters of Justin Nguyen<\/a>, a 24-year-old Jacksonville man who was left with profound brain damage at birth.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

\u201cMy brother has been in the NICA program for 24 years \u2014 probably as one of NICA\u2019s oldest participants,\u201d said Justin\u2019s older sister, Jennifer Pham, 31, who has helped manage Justin\u2019s care since his childhood. Pham said Shipley was \u201cnegligent in fulfilling her duties and obligations while leading and managing NICA.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n

\u201cThe future looks brighter for the next day,\u201d Pham said, \u201cbut we still have a long way to go to correct the program.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n

\u201cI hope that the next director is more involved with and passionate about NICA families and the needs of their loved ones. And I also hope the events that unraveled concerning NICA over these past months serve as a wake-up call to the Florida government and watchdogs. How much do families have to suffer before they\u2019re heard?\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n

NICA parent Ashley Huffman of Jupiter, whose 7-year-old son, Malcolm, is in the program, also was pleased to learn it would soon be under new management. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe need someone fresh who actually cares about the quality of our children\u2019s lives,\u201d Huffman said. \u201cToo many mistakes and too many families have suffered needlessly under her watch.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n

This post was originally published on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Carol Marbin Miller and Daniel Chang, Miami Herald
\n ] <\/p>\n

This article was produced for ProPublica\u2019s Local Reporting Network…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8510,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20789],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314445"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8510"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314543,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314445\/revisions\/314543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}