Naples Court Orders ASL to Reimburse Costs for Child's Rehabilitation Therapy

It is the responsibility of the relevant ASL to reimburse the costs incurred for the child's rehabilitation therapies. Just on the eve of World Autism Awareness Day, an important ruling from the Naples Court, second labor section, judge Maria Rosaria Elmino, was issued. Through a precautionary order, it affirmed the right of a Neapolitan family to be reimbursed for the costs incurred for the rehabilitation therapies of their autistic child by the ASL Napoli 1 Centro. Specifically, once the diagnosis and prescription for psychomotricity were made in the spring of 2021, the family set out to find an accredited center for the execution of the aforementioned treatments for the child. Faced with the discouraging fact of long waiting lists, which would have meant years without the possibility of undergoing therapy, the family turned to a private therapist, advancing the expenses for psychomotricity out of their own pocket, with positive feedback in the evolutionary trajectory. Only in March 2023, a full two years after the diagnosis and being placed on waiting lists, following a formal notice, the availability from ASL Napoli 1 Centro for the child's inclusion in a rehabilitation center arrived. In order to urgently obtain reimbursement for the costs incurred for the rehabilitation therapies, the family turned to lawyers Patrizia Lauritano of the Naples bar and Vincenzo Grimaldi of the Torre Annunziata bar. The professionals - appointed by the family of the little one - highlighted the difficulties faced by their clients in ensuring, entirely at their own expense, the indispensable rehabilitative interventions for the minor. In particular, the family, despite being a single-income household, had faced expenses of over three thousand euros over the course of two years. 'This is an important ruling,' explain the two lawyers, 'which recognizes the necessity and urgency of immediate care for autistic minors, in order to guarantee the best outcomes of the applied therapies. The recognition of reimbursement through the mechanism of indirect assistance marks a new frontier in the rights of the families of autistic minors.'