Some emergency workers in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., are pursuing legal claims and health benefits similar to those that their New York counterparts received after the Sept. 11 attacks, federal officials say. Federal reports listed at least 91 people who claimed they were injured on the job at the two other crash sites affected 12 years ago. Of those, 66 people in the nation’s capital and 25 in Pennsylvania are seeking their portion of a multibillion-dollar fund. Those numbers are tiny when compared with more than 24,000 emergency workers, construction workers and others who sought remuneration after they became sick after 9/11.
However, no studies have shown that the other two locations were subject to the same type of toxins that their New York counterparts endured. The workers only stayed on site for days, not months. No unusual illnesses developed after the clean-up. Congress agreed to the compensation as a show of fairness for the service the workers provided to the nation. Another program through the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has had 19 people respond, but they believe that up to 1,500 people from the two sites will apply for aid.
An Alexandria firefighter developed leukemia in 2010 after he worked in scorched rubble at the Pentagon. In some cases, environmental triggers can affect genetic tendencies that might have caused cancer. He agrees that while the disease is connected to his work as a firefighter, it might not be directly related to 9/11.
Workers’ compensation claims can sometimes be difficult to sort out, especially in cases in which it is not clear how exposure to toxins affected a person’s health. A workers’ compensation lawyer might be able to help clients pursue financial compensation for health-related issues.
Source: ABC News, “9/11 Responders Far From NYC Seek Compensation,” David B. Caruso, Sept. 8, 2013
Source: WHTM, “9/11 responders far from NYC seek compensation”, David B. Coruso, September 08, 2013