Archive of News (2007)

Leavitt slams the door

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt outdid himself by summarily canceling a plan to start a national health care system for sick 9/11 rescue and recovery workers.

Ground Zero Health Program Hits a Setback in Washington

The future of a national program to provide medical treatment to ground zero workers outside the metropolitan area is in doubt after the federal government abruptly halted the search for a contractor to process medical reimbursements.

Dereliction of duty

President Bush is turning his back on the thousands of rescue and recovery workers sickened from labors at Ground Zero. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt made it crystal clear last week: The administration will no longer develop a coordinated federal response for the forgotten victims of 9/11.

The sick can’t wait

A Manhattan federal appeals judge zeroed in Monday on the injustice of forcing thousands of sick World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers to wage long court battles for compensation.

Heroes need better deal

Some harsh realities are hitting 9,000 Ground Zero rescue and recovery workers who have sued seeking compensation for illnesses they suffered responding to the collapse of the World Trade Center. And family members of responders who died are facing the same unpleasant truths.

Hirsch must explain

Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch has rendered a stunning opinion – an opinion that demands detailed explanation – that Detective James Zadroga’s death had nothing to do with his service at Ground Zero.

Smearing a hero of 9/11

There is mounting evidence that the city’s chief medical examiner libeled the memory of Detective James Zadroga by ruling that the cop’s long, arduous service at Ground Zero had nothing to do with his tragic death. Dr. Charles Hirsch appears to have committed a gross injustice that no apology can ever set right.

New York’s duty to Ground Zero dead

It is inevitable that death will come to the men and women who responded to Ground Zero and were sickened. And, just as inevitably, those left behind may wonder whether exposure to the poisoned air in the end proved fatal.

METRO BRIEFING | NEW YORK; Manhattan: Asthma Linked To Trade Center

Children who inhaled dust from the collapsed World Trade Center may be twice as likely to develop asthma as children who were not exposed, according to preliminary findings released yesterday by the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Metro Briefing: New York: Manhattan: Environmental Tests Downtown

Initial tests at 53 apartments and in the common areas of nine buildings within 1,500 feet of ground zero found three dust samples that were contaminated with asbestos above safe levels and 71 samples that were laced with lead that exceeded federal standards, environmental officials said yesterday.