Hansen & Rosasco, LLP

Partner Troy Rosasco and Hansen & Rosasco client Gary D'Onofrio were recently quoted in the Spectrum News 1 article 9/11 Notification Bill Awaits Governor's Signature.

The past twenty years have taught the medical community several things about toxic exposure. We now know that individuals exposed to the toxic dust from the collapsed towers on September 11th, 2001, are at a higher risk for cancer, respiratory, and digestive system diseases.

A bipartisan group from the U.S. House of Representatives called on representatives from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and federal contractor Logistics Health Incorporated (LHI) to provide a briefing about services—or lack thereof—provided to survivors and first responders of 9/11. LHI contracts to provide medical services for those affected by 9/11 who no longer live in the New York metropolitan area, which includes about 24,000 patients.

Thousands of people died on September 11, 2001, in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Hundreds of thousands more suffered physical and emotional harm as a result of the disaster. There has never been a deadlier attack in U.S. history, and the federal government has committed to providing compensation, health care, and medical monitoring for individuals impacted by the attacks until 2090.

In 2016, Congress passed a law making it easier for victims of the September 11th  terrorist attacks to sue state sponsors of terrorism for damages. But that law, known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), prompted many 9/11 victims and families of those who died to ask: If you participate in a JASTA lawsuit, can you still seek compensation for the expenses and impacts of your 9/11-related illness through a September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) claim?

If You Were in the Exposure Zone After the Terrorist Attacks, the Answer May Surprise You

On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in Lower Manhattan, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, resulted in a tragic loss of life. Hundreds of thousands of more people—particularly those who were near the World Trade Center in New York City on that day and in the months following—suffered toxic exposures from dust and debris. Those exposures are now directly linked to numerous serious illnesses and health complications, including cancer.

New Jersey Representative Mike Sherrill recently led a group of bipartisan congress members to draft a letter that was sent to the program administrator for the World Trade Center Health Program, urging him to hurry up and decide whether uterine cancer will be included in the list of covered conditions for the program. The letter followed the release of new scientific evidence that the chemicals present in the World Trade Center dust plume are commonly linked to the disease.