Miami Herald focused on the negative. My injured son thrives in NICA program | Opinion
The Miami Herald recently featured my family in its “Birth & Betrayal” series about Florida’s NICA program, which also appeared in the Bradenton Herald. My wife and I spoke at length with Herald reporters about our largely positive experiences, but they instead chose to include far less of our story than from parents who criticized the program. They ignored much of what we shared, instead focusing on decade-old legal pleadings that fit their negative narrative better.
I can only speak for my family. However, if NICA treats every family as fairly as they do mine, I would hope there are far more satisfied families than the Herald reporters implied. NICA has been the best thing for our son Rock Jr. during this very complicated and emotional time in our lives.
Looking back, it was a very rough start for my family. After Rock Jr. suffered a birth-related neurological injury, it took five years to be accepted into Florida’s Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, or NICA, program. Those years were one struggle after another for my family, but the fault of that extended delay rests with our then attorneys, Morgan & Morgan. In my family’s case, it was due to Morgan & Morgan incorrectly telling us that NICA consumed my wife’s claim for injuries sustained to her during labor and delivery. Our attorneys failed us miserably. They tried to frame NICA as the enemy or opposition, and they didn’t accurately communicate how the program could help us.
A flaw in the system is with the attorneys who represent injured families with potential NICA claims. They either lack proper education about the NICA program, intentionally withhold the program’s benefits, or fail to describe NICA benefits properly to families.
Once we received and read the NICA claims manual and benefits handbook, we were able to understand the benefits for our son and our family, and only then were we able to see NICA in a new light. Today, we are so thankful that Rock Jr. was accepted into the NICA program.
We may not have been dealt the easiest hand, but with the help of NICA, we know we will always have what we need to take care of our son. It’s a huge relief to know he will always have what he needs to thrive.
We know that some other NICA families feel they don’t receive the same benefits as us or others in the program, but NICA provides benefits based on each child’s unique needs. Not every child in the program has the same level of disability, so you can’t expect everyone in the NICA program will get the same benefits. The benefits Rock Jr. receives are based on the level of care he requires, as determined by his physician. We’re very happy with the NICA program for providing what we require to meet his many needs.
NICA’s executive director, Ms. Kenney Shipley, is the greatest. If you’d asked us 10 years ago, we would have probably told you otherwise because of where we were and how we didn’t understand the program. This was mainly due to the Morgan & Morgan lawyers poisoning our view of NICA, sharing misinformation with us so we’d agree to litigate. If successful, Morgan & Morgan could have filed a lucrative malpractice lawsuit and potentially collected millions in attorney’s fees. We eventually realized Morgan & Morgan didn’t have our best interests at heart and were only interested in a big payday, not what was best for our son or our family as they missed the statute of limitations for filing my wife’s injury claim as well.
When we began working with NICA, we had some disagreements but were able to work them out in the best interest of Rock Jr. Now, we’re all on a first-name basis, and if we need something from NICA, Kenney and her team works with my family to ensure Rock Jr. gets the benefits he is entitled to.
We have now been in the NICA program for over 10 years. I have learned that a family getting a huge multi-million dollar verdict is not necessarily in the best interests of the injured child.
My family was blessed to recently meet a family who received a multi-million dollar verdict, but the reason we met them was the trust fund set up for their injured child denied them medical equipment they needed, and by the grace of God, my family was able to donate Rock Jr.’s old equipment to that family, so in the end, NICA is still helping those families that got huge verdicts as well. Go NICA!
Rock Pollock Sr. of Anna Maria Island is the father of a birth-injured child in the NICA program.