On August 24, 2004, and again on February 2, 2005, Rep. Carolyn Maloney announced legislation to extend the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) for personal injury claims and to remove misguided regulations on the fund that had blocked many injured rescue workers from eligibility.
A number of injured
9/11 rescue and recovery workers explained today
that they had not applied for the VCF because their
illnesses developed more seriously after the fund's
December 22, 2003 deadline and in some cases because
they were not informed of eligibility for the fund.
The same concerns apply to residents around Ground
Zero.
Congresswoman
Maloney said, "Anyone hurt
by 9/11 deserves access to this
fund, but countless injured victims
were denied help or discouraged
from applying because of misguided
regulations. The President and Congress
need to extend the Victim Compensation
Fund deadline and reform it for
all those who were clearly injured
from 9/11, but denied the help they
deserve."
Detailing
the reform sought, Maloney said,
"Since it takes longer than
three days for a 9/11 respiratory
illness to emerge, the fund should
obviously allow more than three
days for an injured victim to seek
medical help to be eligible. Since
the development of respiratory illness
was not exclusive to the first four
days of service at Ground Zero,
the fund should clearly be eligible
to those who responded beyond the
first week. Finally, the December
22 deadline came too soon for many
9/11 responders to realize the full
extent of their illnesses. They
deserve a chance to apply. It will
be a lasting shame on the federal
9/11 response if we exclude those
in need from seeking help that they
so clearly deserve."
Joining
Maloney at the event were Michael Barasch,
Managing Partner, Barasch, McGarry, Salzman,
& Penson, and a number of New York City
firefighters, police and recovery workers
who served at Ground Zero.
Michael
Barasch said, "No one told
the lungs about the Victim Compensation
Fund deadline. Congress is doing
the right thing by continuing to
help those who sustained latent
pulmonary injuries while working
in the recovery efforts at Ground
Zero. There are so many sick and/or
disabled rescue
workers who weren't diagnosed until
it was too late for them to apply.
They deserve our help as well."
continued above
>
|
|
New York
Department of Correction Warden
Peter Curcio, who served at Ground
Zero, said, "On 9/11 I ran
into harms way to help. It was my
job and I was proud to do it. When
I got there the E.P.A. told me the
air quality was acceptable and I
stayed to help. We all now know
that was a lie. The question now
is, is Congress going to leave me
uncompensated for my pulmonary injuries
because they developed late and
are getting progressively worse?
Are they going to leave me uncompensated
because they failed to communicate
the purpose and eligibility criteria
for the fund to all of those who
served down there? This was unchartered
territory for all of us. I can forgive
them for deceiving me on the air
quality to prevent mass hysteria
if they can forgive my late application
based primarily on their failure
to broadcast the fund information
properly and permit a reopening
of the fund."
In addition
to late-onset illness and inadequate outreach
as potential reasons that those injured from
9/11 may have missed the original VCF deadline,
time restrictions on VCF applicants were also
questioned. Specifically, VCF criteria required
applicants to have arrived for rescue and
recovery operations within 96 hours of the
attacks and for all injured claimants to have
sought medical help for an injury within 72
hours, although the Fund's Special Master
Kenneth Feinberg had some discretion over
the latter criteria. Largely as a result of
the VCF's misguided restrictions on applicants
1,755 of the 4,430 personal injury claims
considered were denied.
Congresswoman
Maloney's legislation, the Victim
Compensation Fund Extension Act,
is available here.
It would:
* amend
eligibility rules so that responders
to the 9/11 attacks who arrived
later than the first 96 hours
could be eligible if they experienced
illness or injury from their work
at the site.
* amend
eligibility rules so that those
who did not seek immediate medical
verification for their illness
or injury from the disaster, but
who have since obtained medical
evidence, would be eligible.
* extend
the deadline for application to
allow those with either late-onset
illness from the disaster or those
who were never informed of their
eligibility for the Victim Compensation
Fund to consider applying.
return to top
|
