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 Ignoring the Other Victims of 9/11Posted on Sep 10, 2007By Marie Cocco WASHINGTON—When the National Guard helicoptered her husband, Mark, to Staten Island to work as a wireless technician setting up a communications network for thousands of emergency workers who were descending upon Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, Jeanmarie DeBiase did not know this would begin the unraveling. She would not realize it until Jan. 8, 2006—her birthday—when, during a family celebration, Mark broke down in tears. “He sat at my dining room table crying that there was something wrong, that he didn’t want to die,” DeBiase recalled in an interview from her home in Jackson, N.J. Her husband, who worked at the landfill where debris from the fallen World Trade Center was dumped, had suffered a cold for a few days—nothing serious, it seemed. He was a vigorous man of 41, an exercise aficionado who was so careful about his diet that his wife packed his lunch every day. Yet that night at dinner, he sobbed that he wanted to watch his young sons grow up, to play ball with them, to know his grandchildren. The initial diagnosis was pneumonia, but Mark failed to respond to antibiotics; lung X-rays could not confirm any diagnosis at all. “There was so much stuff in his lungs I don’t think they could pinpoint anything,” Jeanmarie says. “They really didn’t know how to treat it.” Visits to the prestigious Deborah Heart and Lung Center did not bring hope. Mark DeBiase died on April 9, 2006, in Philadelphia, while awaiting a double lung transplant. “A lot more illness and death is going to come out of this,” says his widow, who is supporting her three sons on about $3,400 a month in Social Security survivors’ benefits. Health insurance, still provided by Mark’s employer, the wireless company Cingular, cost $64 a month during the first year after her husband’s death. In May, the monthly premium rose to $394. DeBiase considers herself fortunate—she has supportive family and friends, and access to health insurance. She has filed a worker’s compensation claim under a New York state program for workers who were consistently exposed to health hazards in the days and months after the Twin Towers collapsed in a poisonous concoction of dust, burning fuel, chemicals and metals. The contents and lethality of the toxic stew still aren’t entirely known. Typically, employers fight the claims, lawyers say. And typically, a claim takes one to two years to wind through the bureaucracy. The country says it will always remember 9/11. Few politicians miss the chance to appear at this or that commemorative service. Perhaps it is true we have not forgotten those who died that day. But we have abandoned those who are dying now. Thousands of construction workers, janitors, communications specialists, food-cart vendors and others who worked amid the noxious fumes for weeks or months—removing debris not only from Ground Zero but from the office buildings that still stood, reviving communications, feeding and providing aid to those who toiled—are sick with lung disease and all manner of rare cancers, according to various health officials. An expert panel created by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg concluded that as many as 410,000 people faced sufficient exposure to health hazards that they could become ill. About 59 percent of those screened at a city center for patients suffering from World Trade Center-related illnesses are uninsured. The majority have incomes of less than $15,000 a year. Even at a screening center run by Mount Sinai Medical Center for “first responders”—an elite group among those who are turning up sick—an estimated 40 percent lack insurance. New York politicians have persistently pursued more federal involvement and funding. The federal government has perennially rebuffed them. Here is one measure: After federal health authorities involved in monitoring and treatment of World Trade Center emergency responders estimated they would need $283 million a year to run the program, President Bush’s budget allocated $25 million. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., whose district encompasses Ground Zero, and other New York lawmakers used the sixth anniversary of the attack to introduce legislation to require health monitoring and care for all those who are sick from exposure to what may be the most serious environmental catastrophe in the nation’s history. Yes, it would be an “entitlement.” And yes, it would be costly—certainly more expensive than a ribbon of remembrance. It would, at last, require the country to come to grips with the knowledge that the official toll of 2,750 from the World Trade Center attack isn’t the final death count. It’s only the first. Marie Cocco’s e-mail address is mariecocco(at)washpost.com. © 2007, Washington Post Writers Group Previous item: Tag -- It's Your Problem Next item: Candidates for Sale Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By John Borowski, September 11, 2007 at 1:31 pm # One of the things that insult any decent individual is the 6-year-old orientation of BS about the World Trade Center. This is the same 6-year-old plop-plop that is use on as seen on TV commercials. They show steel in the form of a cross and imply there are religious connotations. If they would allow me to rummage through the rubble of the World Trade Center, I could show you any geometric form you want. 0,X,S,T,9,8,etc.
By GodSend, September 11, 2007 at 10:52 am # Scott: So you want I should add the names of the still-living crazed Arab ‘hijackers’ to the list of victims, then?! You shouldna opened your big mouth and then proceeded to stick your ignorant foot in it - all in one short post! There is nothing more evil than those Zionists bastards and traitors who worship in the “Synagogue of Satan” and perpetrated 9/11 - Bush included!
By John Borowski, September 11, 2007 at 10:07 am # The bringing down of the World Trade Center by using explosives raises an ominous question. Despite the fact that using explosives is the cheapest and quickest way to go is it the safest way to go. Will bringing down old buildings and stadiums that are infested with asbestos like the World Trade Center cause thousands of deaths from polluted air for hundreds of miles around.
By David, September 11, 2007 at 6:22 am # Conservatives to 9/11 workers: Tough luck. You live in a ‘ownership’ society. If you are not morally upright enough to have health insurance we see no reason to ‘subsidize’ you. America is the land of opportunity, you with no insurance, you’re just lazy. When you die they will be plenty of people to do our bidding willingly. They will not be sick like you. Bottom line: we’re just so sorry but our shareholders will not allow us to save your lives. You see, if you are not one of US then you are one of THEM. And if you are one of THEM then we cannot help you. I’m sure you understand. God bless America. Add Your Comment |
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