Brain-damaged in a car accident, 12-year-old Layton Smith loses out on lifetime care

A MULTI-BILLION dollar state fund exists specifically to help people badly injured in road accidents, but Layton Smith, from Mt Druitt, can’t claim a cent.

Layton Smith, 12, pictured with his father Troy at RAAF Memorial Park in Mt Druitt. For Public Defender.

A MULTI-BILLION dollar state fund exists specifically to help people badly injured in road accidents, but Layton Smith can’t claim a cent of it because he was injured three years too early.

Layton, now 12, suffered irreparable brain damage and physical injuries in a road smash in 2004, three years before the new scheme ­kicked in.

Had it happened today, he would have lifetime care.

Now his father is among many people asking: Couldn’t the rules be bent to allow the fund to help Layton, and others like him?

Couldn’t the law be changed to help all road victims, not just those injured after a certain date?

“It would be nice if it was retrospective,” father Troy Smith, from Mount Druitt, told The Daily Telegraph.

“There’s no miracle operation that Layton can have that will fix his brain injury. He will need lifetime care, and that’s what concerns me.”

Mr Smith acknowledges this could run into millions of dollars. But that is precisely why the Lifetime Care and Support Authority was established. It covers things like medical and hospital care, home and car modifications, education support, equipment and personal care in the home for people injured in road accidents regardless of who was at fault.

Every time you purchase a CTP (compulsory third party) or green slip insurance policy you contribute to it.

It spent $83 million caring for 933 people in 2013-14, according to its annual report. Yet it had total assets of over $3.3 billion, and a war chest for future care of almost $2.4 billion.

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The Daily Telegraph is awaiting a response from the authority.

The protections in CTP insurance didn’t apply to Layton at the time of his accident because it was found to be a blameless accident.

The Smith family took NRMA Insurance to court last year seeking $5 million for Layton’s future care.

They had to prove the driver of a van that crossed the Great Western Highway at Mt Druitt and ploughed into their car was at fault. But a Supreme Court judge found the driver was probably unconscious before the collision after suffering a heart attack.

NRMA Insurance has covered medical bills since the accident, and paid $80,000 in compensation to Layton’s mother for an ankle injury. It has also established a support program for Layton which will include a trust fund and a home, but negotiations have yet to be finalised

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