Born without legs, she is now forced, at the age of 49, to face a legal battle to prove the evidence and be granted the annuity that she would be entitled to. Compensation denied because, according to a medical commission, the woman is missing only one leg. It is the odyssey of Maria De Rosa, from Molinella (Bologna), a survivor, because she is one of those people who, from birth, have congenital malformations compatible with the effects of thalidomide, a killer drug that did enormous damage, in the 1950s. and Sixty, when it was given lightly to pregnant women. He had to face …
Born without legs, is now forced, to 49 years old, to face a legal battle to prove the evidence and to be granted the annuity that would be due by right. Compensation Denied because, according to a medical commission, to the woman only one leg would be missing. And the odyssey of Maria De Rosa, of Molinella (Bologna), a survivor, because she is one of those people who, from birth, have congenital malformations compatible with effects of thalidomide, a killer drug that did enormous damage, in the fifties and sixties, when it came lightly administered to pregnant women. She faced immense obstacles in life, but she never gave up. She graduated in law, and became an employee of Inail and Italian champion in Paralympic rowing in 2014.
The last ‘mountain’, apparently insurmountable, however, is represented by the battle he waged with the general management of the Ministry of Health to be recognized a compensation-annuity, required by law, precisely for the damage suffered by the mother’s taking the drug. The woman is experiencing an impasse: first, following a visit in December 2019, the hospital medical commission of the military department of Forensic Medicine recognized the damage due to the drug, then a second report, referring to the same visit sustained by the woman, denied her the annuity, as she would have a ‘malformation not compatible because it is unilateral‘. In practice, according to the Medical Commission, to the woman only one leg would be missing and not two, as is evident to anyone who knows it. But the Directorate General for Supervision of Institutions and Safety of Care has decided to deny the right to compensation on the basis of these considerations.
De Rosa recounts his odyssey: “The drug, which caused me this impairment, has been retained responsible for malformations of newborns also born at the end of the 1960s, with final judgments. So I filed an administrative appeal against this incredible assessment of my situation. After months in which no one answered me, I contacted them again and was told that in these cases an administrative appeal is not allowed, but to oppose it you have to make a judicial one. Which I have done these days because I am not giving up. I have been severely injured since birth. The effects of that drug are recognized by law. After a visit, two minutes were made, the first substantially agrees with me and the second, on the other hand, even says that I would be missing only one leg. It is not for an economic question, but for the incredible injustice, that I have decided to go on until my rights are recognized. For a long time I have not said and done anything, considering the pandemic in progress I felt almost guilty asking for information about my practice. But then, reading the reasons, I felt teased and I decided that it is time to say enough “.
The woman has people who support her next to her: “I thank my lawyers Ermanno Zancla and Federica Licata for the legal and moral support, my mother and all the friends who support me and encourage me not to give up”.
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