9/11, Clean Up and Contamination

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “Deal is Reached on Health Costs of 9/11 Workers,” describes the agreement and settlement of the claims of clean up, police and firemen rescue squads from a general fund of up to $657 million.

Mayor Bloomberg praised the settlement, perhaps because the city was the defendant in many of the cases, and the judge said he would monitor the individual awards to ensure fairness.

The settlement must be ratified by at least 95 percent of the plaintiffs to go into effect, resulting in total awards of $575 million. If 100 percent agree, the number rises to $657 million.

The whole situation is actually an outrage. Here we had a tremendous loss of life from the collapse of the twin towers, and we compounded that tragedy with a further ticking health bomb from those who were good enough or specially trained to help with the situation.

Still, the settlement does close the book on the issue and is modeled after a similar fund used to compensate the victims on the planes themselves. Negotiations went on for two years, and it’s important to provide a sense of closure for the rescue squads’ families.

There will also be a special insurance fund for those who have not yet fallen sick, and that seems to be a particularly crucial piece of the puzzle, especially with diseases such as cancer with a longer incubation period.