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Staking Their Claims Feb 5, 2002 Graham Rayman, STAFF WRITER Three weeks ago, Firefighter Fernando Camacho developed paralysis on the right side of his face. On Sept.
11, Camacho of Ladder 22 had responded to the base of the South Tower just
before the collapse, and worked in the smoke and dust of Ground Zero for
about 10 days. Doctors
told him that his condition was called Bell's palsy, caused by an infection
that attacked a facial nerve. He had difficulty hearing, speaking and
blinking. This was after two months with a nagging sinus infection and a numb
tongue. He opted to file a notice of claim with the city. "The
doctors don't really know what the cause is," said Camacho, 32, of the
Bronx. "I was hoping it wasn't caused by whatever chemicals were down
there, but I decided to find out my rights. Now or in the future, if I suffer
from anything, I'm protected." As of
yesterday, 1,300 notices of claim have been filed with the city, totaling
$7.18 billion, stemming from the World Trade Center disaster, city figures
show. A notice of claim is a way of preserving the right to sue the city. It
must be filed with the city comptroller's office within 90 days of an
incident. In recent
weeks, the city has been enforcing the 90-day rule. Camacho's lawyer, Michael Barasch, who
represents nearly 1,000 firefighters, police and sanitation workers, said he
recently had a dozen claims rejected for missing the deadline. Attorney
Anthony Gentile, who represents 240 firefighters, said he has had 17 claims
rejected. The lawyers must now go to court to win a waiver of the rule on a
case-by-case basis. Like
Camacho's case, the lion's share of the claims are related to respiratory
complaints from firefighters and other emergency workers involved in the
recovery in the days and weeks after Sept. 11. Other claims involve damaged
buildings - the Bankers Trust Company, or the owners of 120 Greenwich St.,
who claim $20 million in damages. Other notices have been filed by relatives
of people killed Sept. 11. The
respiratory claims center around the charge that the city failed to provide
emergency workers with proper respiratory gear, allegedly in violation of
city and federal workplace safety laws. "There were dangerous levels of PCBs, dioxins,
mercury, lead, fiberglass, heated by the fire for 90 days," Barasch
said. "The experts have never seen this combination of chemicals. It's
like a witch's brew." Barasch
said one firefighter, a marathon runner, now says he can't carry his young
daughter up the stairs. Another was told by doctors that his lungs resembled
those of a coal miner. Many other have complained of nagging bronchitis and
cold symptoms. "You
are going to be seeing in the next five years so many other guys getting
sick, going out on medical leave," Barasch added. Gentile
said the state Department of Labor recommended the use of respirators on
Sept. 13, but the Fire Department was slow in issuing the equipment to
firefighters at the site. "It was a lack of following the
protocol," he said. "They
gave out dust masks, which are great when you're working in your garage but
they will not protect you from asbestos, fiberglass and all these other
toxins," Barasch said. In the
past, the Fire Department has acknowledged a rash of respiratory complaints,
but suggested that there was no clear link to Ground Zero and noted that
cases of medical leave were only slightly higher than normal. In a Dec. 18
letter to firefighters, Fire Department doctor David Prezant noted that 25
percent of firefighters tested positive for airway irritation in October.
About two-thirds of those firefighters showed the same result in November, as
did another 13 percent who had shown normal results in October. More tests
are scheduled for March. "The
fact that 13 percent developed airway irritation only on repeat testing
raises the possibility that this irritation may occur even months after the
exposure," Prezant said. The
relatives of those killed are the least likely to file lawsuits, unless
direct evidence emerges of negligence by either the city, the airlines or the
Port Authority. Also, any family who partakes in the federal compensation
fund cannot sue. (Copyright Newsday Inc., 2002) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. |