Comments on: Father Sues Medicaid To Get Diapers Covered http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/06/12/diapers-lawsuit/3623/ Developmental Disability News Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:55:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: twinkie1cat http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2009/06/12/diapers-lawsuit/3623/comment-page-1/#comment-372 twinkie1cat Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:34:12 +0000 http://www.disabilityscoop.com/?p=3623#comment-372 It would cost the state a whole lot more if Floyd Smith did dispose of his child in a prison for the unwanted--which is what nursing homes and institutions are. State institutions ran $30,000 per year in the 1980s. So figure on at least $100,000. That is a lot of diapers. Florida still uses them more than most states and they are probably just as bad as they ever were. I had a student in Georgia who was sent to one in Florida when they could not find a new foster home for him. A few months later he died. The institution was called Sunland I believe. His father had beaten his brains out when he was a baby. Sweet child. There might be a couple of options for diapers. If Sharret has a PCA it is possible they could be gotten, wholesale or free through the medical company the PCA comes from. In Atlanta, the poorest parents got theirs through the public hospital, Grady. That is another possibility, the public hospital, although they tended to be poorly fitting and low quality. I have had parents buy diapers by the case and come out much cheaper. One of my parents sent a case to the school at the first of the school year and I kept them in the classroom. It is possible that her diapers for school can be put in her Nursing Plan in Sharret's IEP. What the school recommends in the IEP the school pays for! This is a health and sanitation issue. Daddy needs talk to the school nurse. She cannot be left wet. Her school counselor or social worker might be able to get access for her Another issue is coming up. When Sharret turns 18, even though she will still be in school for 3-4 more years (year of her 22nd birthday) he will have to re-apply for Adult Medicaid and Adult SSI for her. The benefits are different and she may be able to get more money. I hope he has applied for her Medicaid Waiver. Contact the Medicaid office and also have her officially declared incompetent so that when daddy goes back to work he can still take her off of his income tax. It is also important that she not be pushed out of school before that time because the adult programs often won't take them before they age out and she will lose services. I have had many multihandicapped students similar to Sharret. She knows more than you think. She also needs to have a brain stem vision test because the reason she does not watch TV and appears to be so low functioning might be because she does not see well, perhaps has cortical blindness. Multis are normally visual learners if they can see. They love TV! And if she does not listen to music, her hearing should be tested. They ADORE music. This can be hard to determine with low functioning children, but if glasses or hearing aids would help they could also help her do more for herself. Both need to be gotten while she is still on Children's Medicaid. Multihandicapped kids are almost always higher functioning mentally than their bodies let them show. And I can guarantee that this girl misses her mama and loves her daddy and sisters. And she appreciates their love for her. If anyone opposes this child getting government help they had better not also refer to themselves as Christians or Pro-life. Florida still has Republicans in charge and they are always cutting back on important, life affirming programs so Mr. Smith probably has a tough fight ahead. It would cost the state a whole lot more if Floyd Smith did dispose of his child in a prison for the unwanted–which is what nursing homes and institutions are. State institutions ran $30,000 per year in the 1980s. So figure on at least $100,000. That is a lot of diapers. Florida still uses them more than most states and they are probably just as bad as they ever were. I had a student in Georgia who was sent to one in Florida when they could not find a new foster home for him. A few months later he died. The institution was called Sunland I believe. His father had beaten his brains out when he was a baby. Sweet child.

There might be a couple of options for diapers. If Sharret has a PCA it is possible they could be gotten, wholesale or free through the medical company the PCA comes from. In Atlanta, the poorest parents got theirs through the public hospital, Grady. That is another possibility, the public hospital, although they tended to be poorly fitting and low quality. I have had parents buy diapers by the case and come out much cheaper. One of my parents sent a case to the school at the first of the school year and I kept them in the classroom.

It is possible that her diapers for school can be put in her Nursing Plan in Sharret’s IEP. What the school recommends in the IEP the school pays for! This is a health and sanitation issue. Daddy needs talk to the school nurse. She cannot be left wet. Her school counselor or social worker might be able to get access for her

Another issue is coming up. When Sharret turns 18, even though she will still be in school for 3-4 more years (year of her 22nd birthday) he will have to re-apply for Adult Medicaid and Adult SSI for her. The benefits are different and she may be able to get more money. I hope he has applied for her Medicaid Waiver. Contact the Medicaid office and also have her officially declared incompetent so that when daddy goes back to work he can still take her off of his income tax. It is also important that she not be pushed out of school before that time because the adult programs often won’t take them before they age out and she will lose services.

I have had many multihandicapped students similar to Sharret. She knows more than you think. She also needs to have a brain stem vision test because the reason she does not watch TV and appears to be so low functioning might be because she does not see well, perhaps has cortical blindness. Multis are normally visual learners if they can see. They love TV! And if she does not listen to music, her hearing should be tested. They ADORE music. This can be hard to determine with low functioning children, but if glasses or hearing aids would help they could also help her do more for herself. Both need to be gotten while she is still on Children’s Medicaid. Multihandicapped kids are almost always higher functioning mentally than their bodies let them show. And I can guarantee that this girl misses her mama and loves her daddy and sisters. And she appreciates their love for her.

If anyone opposes this child getting government help they had better not also refer to themselves as Christians or Pro-life. Florida still has Republicans in charge and they are always cutting back on important, life affirming programs so Mr. Smith probably has a tough fight ahead.

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