Posted on 04/12/2006 5:24:19 AM PDT by Calpernia
The death of a 34-year-old police detective who developed respiratory disease after working at ground zero is ``directly related'' to Sept. 11, 2001, a New Jersey coroner said in the first known ruling positively linking a death to cleanup work at the World Trade Center site.
James Zadroga's family and union released his autopsy results Tuesday, saying they were proof of the first death of a city police officer related to recovery work after the terrorist attacks.
"It is felt with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the cause of death in this case was directly related to the 9/11 incident,'' wrote Gerard Breton, a pathologist at the Ocean County (N.J.) medical examiner's office in the Feb. 28 autopsy.
Zadroga died on Jan. 6 of respiratory failure and had inflammation in his lung tissue due to "a history of exposure to toxic fumes and dust,'' Breton wrote.
The detective spent 470 hours after the attacks sifting through the twin towers' smoldering ruins, wearing a paper mask for protection. His breathing became labored within weeks, he developed a cough and he had to use an oxygen tank to breathe. He retired on disability in November 2004.
The coroner found material ``consistent with dust'' in Zadroga's lungs and damage to his liver and said his heart and spleen were enlarged.
Zadroga's parents and 4-year-old daughter appeared at a news conference with half a dozen other detectives who said they have suffered from cancer, strokes, lung disease and other ailments because of post-Sept. 11 work at the trade center site.
A class action lawsuit and families of ground zero workers have alleged more than two dozen deaths are related to exposure to trade center dust, which doctors believe contained a number of toxic chemicals including asbestos and more than 1 million tons of tower debris.
"They all knew it was detrimental to their health,'' said Joseph Zadroga, James Zadroga's father. ``They all knew that, yet they stayed there.''
Doctors running health screening programs, including a city registry following tens of thousands of people, say it will take decades to truly assess the health effects of working at the trade center site.
"The World Trade Center Health Registry will help us draw meaningful conclusions about the long-term health effects of the WTC disaster,'' the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in an e-mailed statement. "While the registry is not designed to track individual diagnoses, staff continue to evaluate the health of the nearly 71,000 residents, children, rescue and recovery workers and volunteers enrolled.''
ping
So young, so sad.
May he rest in peace.
Previous death:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600048/posts
WTC Morgue Worker Dies of Respiratory Illness
Posted by Calpernia
On News/Activism 03/20/2006 10:42:56 PM EST · 33 replies · 699+ views
1010 WINS ^ | Monday, 20 March 2006 10:29PM
NEW YORK -- A 41-year-old paramedic who worked at a morgue for months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center was buried Monday after dying of an asbestos-related cancer. Deborah Reeve, a 17-year paramedic, died on March 15 of mesothelioma, a lung cancer associated with exposure to asbestos, her family said. Reeve developed a cough in late 2003 and retired at the end of 2004 after becoming too ill to work. Her doctors and family say her cancer was caused by exposure to toxic dust from the World Trade Center site. City health officials say it's...
Previous death:
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_079162209.html
Mar 20, 2006 9:37 pm US/Eastern
Emotional Goodbye For Ground Zero Worker
EMT Dies From Lung Disease
CBS) BRONX Hundreds of paramedics, EMT's and firefighters came to pay their respects to Deborah Reeve, an EMT for 17 years, Deborah spent her life giving to others until the very end.
Patrick Bahnken, President of the Uniformed EMT's and Paramedics, spoke to CBS 2 saying, "I think that we have lost a tremendous paramedic, a wonderful wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend. Deborah Reeve is an angel on earth, now she is an angel in heaven."
(snip)
Lt. Susan Gonzalez, a friend of Deborah's said, "What's scary about that is that we all spent time down there. After Felix passed away, now Debbie and numerous others, we are all frightened as to who is next. But it won't stop us from doing what our job is, service to the city is to take care of the people first."
Lt. Gonzalez, a mother herself, spoke with Deborah about her fears after her friend was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago this month. "First and foremost her children, her daughter growing up now without a mother, it's devastating."
The first of many more to come, most likely. RIP, Mr Zadroga, and thank you for your service.
All of lower Manhattan carried the strong smell of the smoldering ruins for weeks after 9-11. It got sucked into the air flow systems inside buildings. For weeks after, I wore a mask on my way to work, and for the first week, even wore the mask INSIDE my building, because the smell was so strong, and I didn't know what I was inhaling. Ground zero smoldered for a long time. I can still remember the smell vividly.
That smell was here in NJ too. That smell will forever give me nightmares.
Then you know what I'm talking about. It's burned into my memory.
THAT is an understatement. Recalling that smell must be very close to what PTSD is.
My husband and I wake up with a cough and throat irritation every day since 9/11. We call it the "9/11 cough". Any one else have this? We're non-smokers in our early 30s.
Yes.
You can read more specific information about air in this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1596102/posts
9/11 Responders Face Uncertain Future
9/11 cough specifically mentioned in the links in posts 5 and 6.
I have not had that.
.
9/11...
Lifesaver RICK RESCORLA's statue joyfully unveiled - Ft. Benning GA
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608896/posts
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RICK RESCORLA'S STATUE WILL NOT BE ON PUBLIC DISPLAY UNTIL THE NEW NATIONAL INFANTRY MUSEUM IS OPENED IN 2-3 YEARS
It is all too clear that the list of 9/11 victims will continue to grow in the years to come. I daresay that most of those who threw themselves into recovery work at Ground Zero would do it again if they had to. May God bless them all.
Everyone would go without a second thought.
You couldn't be HERE:
without knowing that air was toxic. Everyone was desparately looking for someone trapped. And there were the worries of another building falling or another gas line exploding. The sea wall was threatening to break also.
I don't think you would get as many for the clean up effort...but for search and rescue, I bet the numbers would even be bigger with the knowledge of deaths to follow.
bump for later
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