Thalidomide victim says compensation plan falls short

RECORD PHOTO BY AUSTIN GRABISH

Paul Murphy, 52, says a compensation package by the federal government for Thalidomide victims falls short of what was promised.

   

By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record

The federal government is offering Thalidomide survivors a lump-sum tax-free payment of $125,000, and access to a $168 million assistance fund, but one survivor says the government’s announcement falls short and doesn’t properly compensate victims.

Minister of Health Rona Ambrose made the announcement last Friday in Edmonton.

“I would like to express heartfelt sympathy and great regret for the decades of tremendous suffering and personal struggle that exposure to Thalidomide has inflicted on survivors and their loved ones,” Ambrose said.

“No regret or sympathy and no amount of financial support can ever undo what happened.

“However, today we are announcing support that will help ensure that survivors receive the care they need to live the rest of their lives with dignity.”

Paul Murphy is a Thalidomide survivor who was disappointed with Friday’s announcement.

Murphy, who lives outside of Selkirk, said he and other Thalidomide survivors were each expecting to receive a $250,000 settlement in addition to a special pension that would vary from $75,000 - $150,000 depending on level of disability.

“That was the expectation,” Murphy, 52, said.

Survivors were also expecting to have access to a special individual $500,000 fund for special medical needs, but Ambrose said Friday there would be just one group fund for all survivors administered by a third party agency.

Murphy said that’s “quite insulting”

“Does this mean when we need any money at all that we have to go and beg and prove it?”

Murphy said costs to make his home and vehicle properly accessible have been huge.

His van, which had special adaptations to accommodate his needs, cost $80,000 alone, he said.

Murphy said no amount could ever make up for the suffering he and others have endured because of Thalidomide. 

“But the number that they were talking about if people look at it for realistic sense, $250,000 is not unreasonable when you consider the extreme expense of having this level of disability,” Murphy said.

“A disability that was caused by human error.”

Thalidomide was an anti-nausea drug prescribed to pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s.

Children of women who took the government-approved drug were born with several problems including missing or malformed limbs, deafness, blindness, and other disabilities.

“The fact of the matter is I’m poor limbed my arms and legs are shortened,” Murphy said.

Murphy also has hearing issues and his health has progressively deteriorated in the last five years. 

“I used to be able to jump in the shower by myself not now,” Murphy said.

The federal government provided compensation to survivors in 1991, but Murphy said the compensation given was hardly enough and the government didn’t make any admission of guilt.

Murphy and other Thalidomide survivors were optimistic to hear about the government’s compensation announcement, but it fell short, he said.

“I think all of us were anticipating it,” Murphy said.

But Murphy isn’t dwelling on Friday’s announcement.

“Am I fretting about it? Am I unhappy and I unhappy? Frustrated? All those things? No. I mean I’m in this situation.”

Asked if he felt ripped off he said, “That infers that I’m bitter about it and I’m not.”

“It is what it is.”

There are 95 Thalidomide survivors left in Canada.

The payments will be available in the next few weeks, Ambrose said.

-- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition March 12, 2015 p.7