A Langley father is speaking out about the costly road to recovery for two of his family members who were hurt in a serious crash last October.
Jasmeet Singh Behl’s wife and his 12-year-old son (JV) were on their way back from the grocery store when his wife suffered a stroke while driving.
Behl’s son unbuckled his seatbelt to grab the steering wheel to try and slow the car down. However, their car went airborne, crashing into a ditch.
Behl’s wife, Navdeep, was not hurt as a result of the crash, but she now has lingering speech and mobility issues.
However, his son suffered several broken bones and only has 40 per cent of his vision as a result of the crash.
“He’s not able to run. He’s not able to play with his friends. He’s not able to play his PlayStation. He’s not able to do stuff that he used to do all that time because he was a super, super active kid, like in his basketball team and volleyball team in school,” Behl said.
“Now, he’s not able to do that stuff. And he wants to go back and live that life.”
ICBC has told the family that they are only going to be covering some of the son’s medical bills.
“If it happened in the house, JV would not have been injured badly,” Behl told Global News. “I would be the caregiver of only one person. I could have worked and survived and feed my family, but now I can’t do that because I have two people to care for all the time.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for some of the expenses incurred.
“I think ICBC should cover all the therapies, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy that she needs for a very long, long time,” Behl said, speaking of his wife.
“I also think that ICBC should make changes in the no-fault insurance policy as well because they have designed the policy in a way that shows that they give a lot of stuff, but it ends up being their excuse for everything in that policy that they don’t provide to people.”
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Crash victim says ICBC is giving her the run around over support services
ICBC said they have been working with the family’s health-care team to ensure they are receiving their eligible benefits.
“ICBC basic insurance coverage provides benefits to people to help them recover from injuries related to motor vehicle crashes,” ICBC spokesperson Brent Scheer told Global News.
“Medical tests have confirmed that challenges that (Behl) is experiencing are exclusively the result of her spontaneous stroke and not related to the crash. So in cases where a person has a medical event and does not suffer injuries related to a motor vehicle crash, they aren’t eligible for benefits through ICBC. However, they would be covered under the province’s medical services plan.”
ICBC said JV has received more than $75,000 in benefits to date.
“An ICBC Advanced Support and recovery specialist, along with an occupational therapist, recently coordinated an in-person meeting with the family to further discuss benefits and will continue supporting them through this incredibly challenging time and doing everything we can to help,” Scheer added.
“Some of the benefits he’s been receiving include occupational therapy, counselling, in-home physiotherapy, kinesiology, various rehabilitation equipment, including a pedal bike exerciser, ankle weights, walker, wheelchair and other kinds of mobility equipment. All of that has been provided and those benefits will continue.”
But Behl said the situation is getting desperate.
“I have not been able to work for the last 10, 11 months,” he said.
He also said he has started trying to work again and brings his laptop to all the medical appointments so he can be as available as possible.
“There was a lot of support from my friends, family and community. I have not taken any money from anybody, any financial help. We had some savings and some line of credit that I was using until now, but now it feels like if I continue doing that, we will be running out of that very soon because our treatment is very expensive.”
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