I appreciate the difficulty outlined by the Minister. He gave an example of a person who was permanently incapacitated as a result of injury. I believe that such a person would be covered by subsection 2(1)(b) which states:
In-patient services or out-patient services have been, are being ...
I am suggesting that we delete "will be" and that, at that point, they are being provided and that the court could equally decide to grant an award for the treatment that would be necessary. Let us take an alternate example of, say, somebody who suffers a whiplash injury to the neck. There is a court settlement in perhaps two years' time and the person is not having any serious trouble with his neck then but in five or six years time he may well have developed arthritis in the neck with serious neurological complications in the arms. The health board at that stage might charge a person for the service it was necessary to provide because it was legitimately the result of an accident that person had been involved in five or six years previously. We want to guard against health boards doing that.
The Minister pointed out that in awarding damages, courts take into consideration the cost of care and attention particularly where a person has been incapacitated. Where it is possible to measure the extent of that incapacitation the courts award damages, but there are many other aspects to awards of courts and it is not always possible to say how much of the award relates to the need for treatment in the future. Indeed, in the case that gave rise to this legislation, Cooke versus Walsh, damages were awarded under eight different headings: hospital expenses to the date of the trial, hospital expenses for 12 months after the trial, the cost of alteration to the father's house to suit the needs of the child, the loss of expectation of life, future loss of wages, cost of future care, general damages to the date of the trial and general damages in the future. We want to ensure that if a person receives an award health boards will not charge that person, if he or she is entitled to the service otherwise, if he or she has not received damages to cover the cost of treatment in the future. In many instances, including the one I have outlined, it is not possible to foresee the consequences of a road accident or the injuries a person might suffer.