More birth injuries will be covered by ACC after a comprehensive bill passes second reading in the House.
Parliament has expanded the scope of the Amending Compensation Act (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters), a future law that will provide ACC coverage for birth injuries, after a select committee of MPs heard evidence from some 800 petitioners.
The new bill added six new categories of birth injuries, bringing the total to 12. The injuries include specified prolapses, tears, fractures and dislocations, and rupture of the uterus.
Proponents of the bill had criticized the extent of the coverage it was put in place to provide parents who sustain birth injuries. The amended bill is not retroactive, meaning it will not cover existing injuries, as well as mental injuries, which the Green Party has called for.
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ACC Secretary of State Carmel Sepuloni, speaking in the House Wednesday evening, said she wanted to reassure those who introduced the bill that it was “intended to cover all maternal birth injuries that could be caused by childbirth”.
“Based on its own estimates of how common the injuries are on the list and how many parents will make claims, ACC now expects to support 28,000 women a year to access the support they need, 10,000 more than initially estimated. “
Two changes have been made to the bill by the Education and Personnel Selection Committee: an increased number of birth injuries listed as covered by the bill, and a clause requiring that birth injury lists be revised in the future.
ROBERT KITCHEN/Things
ACC minister Carmel Sepuloni said she wanted to reassure those who introduced the bill that it was “intended to cover all maternal birth injuries that could be caused by childbirth”.
Sepuloni said if a mental injury was caused by a birth injury, it could also be covered under the bill by ACC.
National Party for Women spokesman Nicola Grigg said the bill is “an excellent step towards promoting the rights and protection of women in New Zealand, and particularly mothers”.
“But we’re a little uncomfortable about the lack of robust costs,” she said, suggesting an estimate of $25 million per year may be low.
“However, we know that there are about 18,000 women a year who suffer some pretty serious, pretty traumatic injuries. About 85% of women who give birth in New Zealand each year require medical attention, and as we all know today, medical services don’t come quickly and they don’t come cheaply.”
Green Party ACC spokesman Jan Logie said the second reading of the amended bill was “a day to celebrate”.
“It is a very important step for families in our country to have the injuries that thousands of birth parents have endured in silence, often in shame, for years without treatment or support.”
She said the Green Party did not want a defined list of birth injuries in the bill, instead a general category of “birth injuries”.
“Looks like that could have potential to embed some level of discrimination into the system… But the advice from the officials was that they thought that would catch too many things, and that makes me sad.” .”
The National, Green and ACT parties all supported the bill in the second reading.