The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Legislators heard pleas Tuesday for the allocation of $250,000 to help pay for a liver transplant for a Smithfield policeman who contracted a life-threatening disease trying to save an infant's life.
The officer, Kurt Beach, is expected to learn next week if lawmakers will help him.
Beach was on duty in 1988 when he contracted hepatitis C while using CPR in a vain attempt to resuscitate a newborn. The disease was not diagnosed in him until 1995 and he was denied workers' compensation because of the state's five-year statute of limitations in applying for benefits.
Beach, 52, has developed grave liver problems as a result of the disease and has not worked since the fall, although he continues to be paid by the Smithfield police.
Beach is on a national waiting list for a liver and, should a compatible donor be found, his insurance would pay for the operation. He's asking the state to pick up a $250,000 tab for the organ anti-rejection drugs that he would need for a decade - a cost not covered by insurance.
"I'm aware asking for assistance in this budget year is difficult," Smithfield Police Chief Mark Marshall told a House Appropriations subcommittee, noting the state's deep financial problems. "This is an extraordinary circumstance for an extraordinary man. If he does not receive this transplant, he will perish."
Beach was too ill to travel to Richmond. His wife, Kathie, told lawmakers they have been unable to meet the growing uninsured costs of his disease despite refinancing their home twice and getting some help from their church.
"We just haven't had the money," she said. "Kurt's a police officer and, unfortunately, they just don't make that much money."
The relief bill for Beach - HR2243 - is sponsored by Del. Bill Barlow, D-Smithfield. Barlow also put in HB2252, which would exempt hepatitis from the five-year statute of limitations for workers' compensation.
The subcommittee asked for a week to figure out if there are sources of government money available to Beach other than making a claim against state government.
The state normally grants special relief to individuals only when they've suffered from a mistake made by the government, such as being wrongly incarcerated.
Lawmakers, while voicing sympathy for Beach, said they were concerned that granting his $250,000 claim could set a precedent for others denied workers' compensation to turn to the General Assembly.
"It's a tough situation," said Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk.
Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com
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May a generous benefactor step forward?
Won't someone with deep pockets step forward for this good man? Does anyone know well Mr. Joseph W. Luter of Smithfield, III, who has done so much already for the town of Smithfield? Can you ask him to help a great public servant? Are we going to just watch him die? So far, no one has been found to be the live donor either. Can't we in the public collect a reward for a brave liver donor, to be used to help pay the bills of the liver donor up front? Maybe a healthy UNEMPLOYED man could be enticed to make the liver donation that way, and a good rich man to pay for the drugs, etc. Come on Smithfield, let's get this thing done, before he perishes. He IS WORTH IT to our community! Are we not a compassionate town and county for a worthy cause? We have got to do more than drop a five dollar bill in a bucket! I will give several hundred up front. How can we get something going?
JMO but I say pass the legislation....
This man was a public servant that so far has paid a heavy price for an action that occurred in the line of duty. As yet he has had to pay a police officer's ultimate scarifice but without this surgery that day is fast approaching. It disgusts me that the workers comp board is hiding behind a 5 year statute of limitations clause. I urge that our elected legislators get behind this bill and send it through with a quickness. In the grand scheme of things $250,000 is not huge sum of money compared to a human life. Like rainbowmom said- look at how much money is wasted on welfare recipients who do NOTHING to contribute to society but will gladly accept a monthly check and then drive to the bank in a Lexus, Cadillac, or BMW to cash it! C'mon people, where are our priorities? Give this man the $250,000 he needs to save his life! I guarantee you that once he's healthy again he'll contribute more to society than those welfare receiving leeches! Just do the right thing!
This is the kind of man we
This is the kind of man we should support. You did an amazing job, sir. You have my highest respects. Cities, enough paying for housing for absolute bums! Take care of this man. We need more like him.
Insurance must pay
This man performed a heroic act and his health insurance should have covered this surgery. we need to review the insurance policy for our first responders and make sure they are covered. BUT either way this man should have his transplant fully covered.
I wish Mr. Beach well, but I
I wish Mr. Beach well, but I have to ditto RobertM and dogpen on this as well. I believe the officer's workmans comp insurance should have to pony up to cover the cost of the anti-rejection drugs he needs after his transplant.
Lt. Beach
Well, my thoughts are that Lt. Beach is more deserving of receiving this funding as those on welfare that use food stamps and take their groceries out to their 2009 Caddilac or having a dozen children for us to take care of. Just think about all the wasted monies that our government will spend for others and the junk put in by members of Congress as in the stimulus package before Congress right now. OPEN OUR EYES THAT WE MIGHT SEE!
A lesson from Davy Corckett
"Mr. Speaker--I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it.
We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate
a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I ever heard that the government was in arrears to him. Just the start of the statement!!
Look him up!! BOOT THE THEIVES AND BIG SPENDERS OF OTHER PEOPLES MONEY OUT OF THE LOCAL, STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
this sets a bad precedent
The insurance company or workers comp. should be paying this, not the taxpayer. Now every Tom, Dick & Harry that gets hurt or contracts a fatal disease on the job will be looking for this type of help. While I appreciate this mans service, it shouldn't be up to the taxpayers to foot the bill. Godspeed w/the transplant & recovery. I'm pulling for ya, even if I don't agree w/the state funding. God bless.
that the general assembly
that the general assembly should fund the drugs is a no brainer. But how about the phamacutical companies donating the medices for a true hero. They can definitely afford it, and maybe they can in small measure negate the perception that they are greedy, self-serving entities.
The difference here is that
The difference here is that even though Lt Beach was exposed to HepC IN THE LINE OF DUTY, and the disease finally sufaced years later, workmen's comp won't cover him. That alone is pure BS, but unfortunately is the rule when it comes to dealing with VRS and workmen's comp. Del Barlow did right with this measure, it is well deserved.