Florida’s Medicaid program must cover diapers, a judge has ruled in a lawsuit brought by a widower who could not afford incontinence products for his 17-year-old daughter with severe cerebral palsy.

Sharett Smith, 17, is non-verbal and is not able to walk or use her hands. Due to her limited cognitive abilities, her father Floyd Smith says he has never been able to successfully toilet-train her.

A single father, Smith is raising four children on $1,000 a month and cannot afford the $200 to $300 a month in diapers that Sharett needs.  He sued Florida’s Medicaid program alleging that refusing to cover the cost of diapers for his daughter Sharett and others like her was a violation of federal law.

U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold agreed, ordering Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to pay for the diapers he called necessary rather than a convenience. The ruling could affect 12,000 children in the state, reports the Miami Herald. To read more click here.

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