Cyrus Dugger

A Fair Deal for 9/11’s Injured?

I have previously discussed the great difficulty those injured in the environmental aftermath of 9/11 have faced accessing long term medical care and compensation for their lost wages and suffering.

Here’s an interesting proposal from Kenneth Feinberg, the man who administered the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. The fund was primarily created as a means of shielding and limiting airlines’ from liability while still compensating victims. The fund that Feinberg administered was only available to people who were at the WTC within a few days of the attack, and were either killed outright or were treated with medical care within a few days of the attack.

At the same time this op-ed begs an interesting question that is poses and then ignores. What about Katrina victims? Arguably, a brewing storm for which the local, state, and federal government had days warning, let alone the possibility of the simple proper maintenance of the levies, is a strong case for a government program of some kind beyond the badly administered housing programs that Public Citizen has had to go to court to keep in operation. (link)

Feinberg’s proposal becomes even more urgent in light of the fact that:

The roughly $40 million that was set aside by the federal government to treat rescue workers, volunteers and firefighters who became ill after helping with the 9/11 cleanup and recovery will run out in months, physicians and federal officials said yesterday. Members of Congress from New York and New Jersey secured $75 million a year ago to pay for health care expenses — including $40 million for treatments like drugs and medical procedures — for about 32,000 workers who reported ailments after working at ground zero. Distribution of the treatment money did not begin in earnest until October. (link)

In any event, Feinberg puts forward an interesting proposal. Here’s the proposal, judge for yourself if it’s fair:

A Fair Deal for 9/11’s Injured By KENNETH R. FEINBERG

FIVE years have passed since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but the flood of litigation continues unabated in federal court in Manhattan. Some 6,000 people are suing New York City, the Port Authority and more than 100 private contractors for negligence in exposing workers to toxic dust and fumes after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Thousands of additional claims are expected in the next few months. Waiting in the wings are approximately 40,000 workers who cleaned up the site after Sept. 11, as well as residents of Lower Manhattan, observers of the cleanup effort and people who simply breathed the harmful air on their way to work — all potential litigants. Some will probably eventually suffer the same ailments that have led to the current lawsuits.

The federal judge presiding over the lawsuits has urged settlement, warning that continuing the litigation is inefficient, expensive and risky to all parties. The mere existence of thousands of lawsuits fuels uncertainty and delays the payment of compensation to eligible victims.

Two local members of Congress have introduced federal legislation to provide compensation to people injured by the toxic dust. Congress is understandably reluctant: why open the doors of the federal Treasury yet again to New Yorkers and not provide something similar to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, Hurricane Katrina and other calamities? The government is generally not in the business of compensating the victims of life’s misfortune.

The federal Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, which I oversaw, paid more than $7 billion in public compensation to the families of those who died in the World Trade Center attacks and to injured survivors. Of that, about $500 million went to more than 1,300 recovery workers and others suffering from the same respiratory injuries that now plague those in the courtroom. Since none of these 6,000 people who have filed lawsuits received diagnoses of 9/11-related injuries until after the fund’s filing deadline of Dec. 22, 2003, they were ineligible for compensation. So, reluctantly, they have turned to the courts.

There is a better way: use the principles of the 9/11 fund as a blueprint to resolve the current litigation and get money into the hands of recovery workers and others quickly. (link)

Posted at 9:55 AM, Dec 19, 2006 in Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)