The 9/11 Death Toll Grows

Rescue and recovery workers who worked at Ground Zero on and after the collapse of the towers have come down with a variety of ailments that may be attributed to breathing in the debris in the air.

Some have died. Many other are ill and may have contracted illnesses due to their exposures to Ground Zero contaminants. These people are no less victims of the al Qaeda terrorists than those that died directly in the towers or planes on 9/11.

The city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which is tracking the health of 71,000 people exposed to Sept. 11 dust and debris, said this week that it is too soon to say whether any deaths or illnesses among its enrolled members are linked to trade center exposure.

But Robin Herbert, who directs a medical-monitoring program at Mount Sinai Medical Center for more than 14,000 Ground Zero workers, said "certainly it is not inconceivable" that a person could die of respiratory disease related to Sept. 11.

Karin DeShore said she doesn't need scientists to tell her what caused the death of her friend, Keller, 41. DeShore was a Fire Department captain who took Keller to the trade center on Sept. 11, and barely escaped the south tower's collapse.

"He came back coughing" two days later, she said. Faeth said that Keller, who worked as an EMT out of a battalion at a Queens hospital, told him that he coughed up debris so violently he could barely breathe on Sept. 11, and later developed emphysema.

Keller went home to Levittown on medical leave in March. He died on June 23 of heart disease complicated by bronchitis and emphysema, the Nassau County Medical Examiner's Office said.

The medical opinions may differ on when we will be able to determine whether someone died directly as a result of exposure to the air at Ground Zero, but the appearance of a growing number of cases is very troubling for all involved.

David Worby, an attorney representing more than 5,000 plaintiffs suing those who supervised the cleanup over their illnesses, said 21 of his clients have died of Sept. 11-related diseases since the middle of 2004. He said he was not authorized to release their names, but said he represented people who toiled at Ground Zero, at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island where trade center debris was moved and at the city morgue.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Worby said. "Many, many more people are going to die from the aftermath of the toxicity."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., whose congressional district includes the trade center site, blames some of the illnesses on the failure to provide some workers with proper masks or respiratory protection. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found in 2004 that one in five workers wore respirators while they worked at the site to block out the dust laced with asbestos, glass fibers, pulverized cement and other debris.

Many of those working at the site found that the respirators were unwieldy and uncomfortable to wear and limited their ability to work at the site.

There are a number of lawsuits already in the pipeline suing the City, Port Authority, various state and federal agencies, and other entities for the failure to provide proper air monitoring and for a lack of proper protections. The NY Daily News has also covered this heartbreaking story.

UPDATE 1/17/2006:
The NY Post reports that two EMTs died under similar circumstances, although without the fanfare and news reporting associated with the death of a police officer last week due to illnesses associated with Ground Zero work.