Ground Zero Workers Reach 657 Million Dollar Settlement Over Health Crisis

A tentative settlement of up to $657.5 million has been reached in the cases of approximately 11,000 Ground Zero rescue and cleanup workers. Compensation will be delivered according to the severity of illnesses and the level of exposure to contaminants at the World Trade Center site.

Payment would come from a federally financed insurance company with funds of about $1.1 billion that insures the city. NYC Mayor Bloomberg naturally supports the settlement with funds deriving from federal money.

The funds provided by Congress would come from the WTC Captive Insurance Co., controlled by Mayor Bloomberg.

95 percent of the plaintiffs must accept the terms for it to take effect. If 100 percent of the plaintiffs agree to the terms, the total settlement would be $657.5 million. If only the required 95 percent agreed, the total would shrink to $575 million.

The plaintiffs injuries, mostly respiratory related, resulted from the toxic brew of contaminants at ground zero and the defendants' failure to adequately supervise and protect them with safety equipment.

Those with physical illnesses that have not been confirmed by doctors would collect $3,200; the minimum payment. People with stress related and other psychological problems would not be compensated.

Mayor Bloomberg has supported compensation as long as the feds were on the hook for the payouts. When the city was implicated for damages, the mayor's claws came out and he threw many of the rescue workers under the bus.

Firefighter Raymond Hauber died of esophageal cancer. The FDNY's medical board found Hauber's cancer was job-related, from his round-the-clock search for victims at Ground Zero, and declared him disabled in the line of duty.

Bloomberg's tactics were to cast doubt on the cause of the firefighter's illness by blaming it on a 1992 diagnosis of Chlamydia. NYC lawyers also inquired about Hauber's case of jock itch and pimples.

The mayor also moved to block the testimony of the medical-board doctors who assessed Hauber.

http://www.911families.org/News%20articles/Site%20Deaths.html

The mayor also dishonored the memory of Detective James Zadroga. After spending hundreds of hours inhaling toxic dust from the air surrounding ground zero, Zadroga became very ill.

He was retired with a disability pension due to his impairments contracted in the performance of duty, so ruled a medical board. Years later Zadroga died from those injuries.

Mayor Bloomberg claimed that Detective James Zadroga is not a hero due to injecting prescription drugs. Medicine prescribed to him as a result of the 9/11 illness.

The Zadroga family reached out to pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden. The well respected doctor reported that James Zadroga died of Black Lung Disease and further added, "You can't get that from injecting drugs."

Also noted was the absence of needle marks and scarring associated with intravenous drug use.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/435630/bloomberg_dishonors_911_hero.html?cat=9

Mayor Bloomberg's consistent belligerence toward the ground zero workers continued throughout the litigation process and he spent more than $275 million on lawyers and administrative expenses involved in fighting claims.

The 675 million-dollar deal announced is met with skepticism and will be scrutinized by many of the Ground Zero workers.

Sources, in addition to those embedded in article:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/city_lawyers_ground_zero_rescue_n6nTnK37PJCicRk8hp71KI

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/science/earth/12zero.html?hp