First Responders Angry 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Doesn't Help Those With Cancer

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The head of a fund for people injured in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center explained Thursday how they could be eligible for compensation but got an earful from those who said the limitations are too restrictive and seem engineered by detached lawmakers in Washington.

Sheila Birnbaum, the New York attorney charged with administering the fund, addressed about 50 first responders and others at a town hall meeting in City Hall two days after a federal review found insufficient evidence linking cancer to Sept. 11 to warrant adding cancer to the list of conditions covered.

The swelling debate over whether cancer and other illnesses should merit compensation from the fund underscores the delicate and emotionally charged issue of how victims prove their injuries were caused by the 2001 attacks.

Birnbaum, the fund's special master, said she was "representing the victims" at the town hall meeting in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from ground zero.

"If you have a problem, you can take it up with Congress," she said. "That's what we have to deal with it."

Congress originally established a fund in December 2001, doling out $1 billion to the injured and $6 billion to the families of victims. But that program closed in 2003, leaving those whose injuries materialized years later without the ability to benefit.

Last year, Congress authorized the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which reopened the program and allocated almost $2.8 billion to fund it. A draft version of the new rules was released in June and will be finalized in the fall before the program starts accepting applications.

As outlined, the fund extends the time period when a victim had to have been in the area to be eligible to May 2002, eight months after the attacks. It includes a list of conditions presumptively assumed to be linked to the aftermath of the attacks, including lung disease, asthma and carpel tunnel syndrome. It also widens the geographic area a claimant had to be in.

But that area is still confined to a portion of Manhattan, meaning those who say toxic dust from the destroyed twin towers traveled from ground zero over the Hudson River to Jersey City and other communities will not be eligible.

Birnbaum said there simply wasn't the scientific evidence to prove injuries sustained outside New York City were caused by the attacks.

"We can't say it did, we can't say it didn't," Birnbaum said – the same rationale used to explain why cancer was not being included.

That may disqualify Joann Sullivan, a 40-year-old who was working at a Jersey City bar in September 2001 and said she aided survivors as they returned from the World Trade Center to New Jersey, picking up contamination as she doled out water and food to those in crisis.

"I felt that it was my job as an American to do what we had to do," she said.

Sullivan said she later developed an inflammatory lung condition called pulmonary sarcoidosis, rashes and a fever – all of which she attributes to 9/11. She said she lost two jobs because of the dozens of legions that visibly marked her body.

Anyone is free to file a claim, but those who don't fall within the restrictions may be denied, Birnbaum said. She also noted that the funds provided by Congress are limited and no provision exists to augment them. And only $875 million can be paid out in the first five years of the program, expected to run until 2016 or 2017.

Thursday's town hall was one of a series Birnbaum has scheduled, but it's the only one in New Jersey, which lost almost 700 residents among the nearly 3,000 people who perished in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. On Wednesday, Birnbaum addressed participants in New York, who expressed similar frustration over the exclusion of cancer from the list of covered illnesses. A third town hall will be held Tuesday in Melville, N.Y.

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Reach Josh Lederman at . http://www.twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Comments

[Ringwind]

03:48 PM on 08/03/2011

Congress.org - Soapbox --

http://www.congress.org/soapbox/alert/51366561

[truthocentric]

03:12 PM on 07/31/2011

In 2001 as Bush's director of the EPA Christie Todd Whitman told the world that the air was "safe to breathe." Thousands of people (residents and Ground Zero heroes) became sick. It was determined that Ground Zero had toxic dust of some kind. Mt. Sinai hospital issued a report stating that 70 percent of first responders developed new or had worsened respiratory problems. Yet some how someone has dug up some "new facts" indicating that cancer(lung or otherwise) should not be included in medical treament. Are you kidding me?

[O K Ali]

06:06 PM on 07/29/2011

Wow. A travesty that first responders had to wait this long to get any type of decent health care, they still haven't begun to fix Ground zero, but state reps want to hold meetings against the threat of Sharia and radical Islam. Where's the outrage? I don't care if a FDNY employee stubbed his toe last week, if he/she went to Ground Zero to save lives, they should live worry free from red tape and other congressional BS. That goes for any of the brave souls that put it on the line.

[mjc104]

02:51 PM on 07/29/2011

I remember a NYC news video of one of the administrators of this fund. It showed her getting out of a chauffeured towncar, stopping to get a hot dog, on the way to work. This was before they had paid out one cent to the victims, survivors, or their families. Once again Big Money is paid out to the people running the show, crumbs are left for the recipients.

[sachazg]

02:12 AM on 07/29/2011

This is harsh... I wonder if anyone will volunteer to help next time?

[ML49]

12:14 AM on 07/29/2011

Maybe next time we shouldn't go. The sad thing is everybody thinks it would only cover Responders from New York City every congressional district in America sent Responders. One state that is never mentioned is Nevada 84 Responders went to ground zero from there.

[Cold in Michigan]

11:25 PM on 07/28/2011

Such a shame that these men have to go begging for what they are owed.

I do wonder what happened to the tens of millions of dollars that were collected through all the charities at the time and why there was never a fund set up for their on going medical problems.

I also wonder what happens when the residents of NYC start filing suits with the government.

[liberal07]

08:49 PM on 07/28/2011

It would be nice if one time republicans did not screw Americans.

[Max Shaw]

02:23 PM on 07/28/2011

"...not all the money will be distributed right away. The fund will get $875 million in its first five years; the rest of the money will become available in its sixth year.."

Which translates to:

"You'll get some money now...and if youre still alive in 6 years maybe you'll get some more. Thanks for your help though!"


What a bunch of BS...These men and women risked their lives, well-being and their families' well-being to serve and protect our city, country and the lives of those who were affected by the 9/11 attacks and THIS is how the government returns the favor??! By not including those who have developed severe and life-threatening ailments?

Unbelievable...

[ena]

10:12 PM on 07/28/2011

And future first responders will think twice about staying and helping afterwards if something like this ever happens again.

Whatever happened to the gift of a greatful nation?

Pay attention folks and first responders this is how you will be treated. Many of these men and women are already dead.