Editor’s note: This is Part 7 of a nine-part series reflecting on the September 11, 2001, terror attacks ahead of their 25th remembrance this year. Retired Port Authority Police Officer Bobby Egbert, a 9/11 first responder veteran, examines the lasting impact the attacks had on the law enforcement profession and the ways our country and world were changed forever.

Michael Barasch described himself as a “proud ambulance-chasing” personal injury lawyer. He represented New York City cops and firefighters who suffered line-of-duty injuries out of his Lower Manhattan office on Park Place, in the shadow of the World Trade Center. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Barasch’s office was shuttered for approximately three weeks.

Barasch and the staff of the Barasch & McGarry Law Firm eventually returned to the office so the practice could survive. Survival, however, soon became questionable as employees began exhibiting what became known as the “World Trade Center cough,” with some becoming ill. Barasch’s secretary and a paralegal eventually succumbed to cancers determined to be related to 9/11 exposure.

He soon became aware that many of his clients who were first responders to the World Trade Center on September 11 and worked in the nine-month rescue and recovery effort were experiencing similar symptoms.

His legal mind told him something was amiss, even though then-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said three days after the attacks, “The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern.”

“They lied,” Barasch declared indignantly.

His major concern was the World Trade Center cough. It was evident when he visited New York City police precincts and firehouses after the attacks. He suspected the cough was an indication of severe respiratory illness.

Barasch was also well aware of the 90-day period New York City employees had to file a claim for a line-of-duty injury. To protect his clients’ rights, he filed more than 600 line-of-duty injury claims — essentially 600 lawsuits. The City took the position that the claims should instead be filed with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) created by an act of Congress shortly after the attacks to provide compensation for victims and their families. That position, however, posed a problem for first responders because the VCF required victims to have been seen by a doctor within 72 hours of exposure.

“No firefighter or cop was going to get off ‘the Pile’” — the first responder term for the remains of the World Trade Center — “when their brothers and sisters needed to be found,” Barasch said of the VCF’s 72-hour requirement.

The requirement became a dilemma when the original VCF closed on December 22, 2003. The 69 cancers eventually linked to toxic exposure from the attacks were not certified until actions taken between 2012 through 2014.

Barasch found his clients trapped in a “catch-22” situation and knew he needed to find a solution.

“I met Ken Feinberg, the VCF special master, on Christmas morning of 2001. Our meeting was pure luck,” Barasch recalled. “I told him about the hundreds of responders who were getting sick and losing their careers because of their World Trade Center toxic exposure. He invited me to come to his office in early January to continue our conversation.”

Feinberg, like New York City, wanted Barasch to discontinue the pending lawsuits alleging the City had failed to comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for providing proper respiratory protection to its employees involved in the rescue and recovery. Feinberg also wanted the claims to be handled through the VCF.

“I told Mr. Feinberg that I could not discontinue the litigation because the original VCF rules wouldn’t permit anyone to file a claim unless they sought medical attention within 72 hours of their exposure,” Barasch stated.

The resolution involved Barasch withdrawing his clients’ claims against New York City and Feinberg removing the 72-hour VCF requirement.

New York City Police Detective James Zadroga, a Barasch & McGarry client, died on January 5, 2006, from a respiratory illness. Because the VCF had expired and his New York City police disability pension was denied, the financial future of his young daughter was uncertain.

Zadroga, who became a cop in 1992, was described as a healthy non-smoker with no history of asthma or respiratory illness. Barasch was angered by how Zadroga was treated both in life and in death. There was even speculation by city officials that he was a drug addict because of his use of prescribed medications to treat pulmonary fibrosis, a respiratory illness.

After Zadroga’s death, Barasch suggested an autopsy. The family agreed. The results were both confirming and shocking. The report showed that Zadroga’s lungs contained ground glass, asbestos, lead, chromium, benzene and other carcinogens.

Barasch secured a meeting with then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “I put a foot-high pile of medical records and the autopsy report on his desk,” Barasch recalled. At the end of that day, after reviewing the medical records, Bloomberg concluded that the denial of Zadroga’s disability pension was wrong and declared, “He died in the line of duty.”

Bloomberg’s determination, along with Zadroga’s medical records, provided the evidence to lobby Congress over the next four years, resulting in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which was signed into law on January 2, 2011, with an expiration date of October 1, 2015. The legislation also established the World Trade Center Health Program to address long-term 9/11-related illnesses.

There was now a clear path for those suffering from 9/11 illnesses and those who would become ill in the future.

On December 18, 2015, after seeing hundreds of responders and civilians diagnosed with cancer and after the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which administers the World Trade Center Health Program, began certifying those cancers as 9/11-related illnesses, Congress enacted the James Zadroga 9/11 Victim Compensation Reauthorization Act. The legislation extended the VCF for an additional five years, allowing claims to be filed through December 18, 2020.

There were those who questioned Barasch’s work. He recalled being interviewed on CNN, where he was asked whether he was taking advantage of the selfless acts and sufferings of 9/11 first responders for his own financial gain. He said he emphatically responded, “I am not going to apologize for protecting the rights of cops and firefighters.”

Reflecting on the interview, Barasch said, “It is a privilege to represent first responders and civilians who are suffering and the families of those who succumbed to 9/11 illnesses. It feels good that I can comfort people with stage IV cancers and assure them and their families that thanks to the VCF awards, you won’t have to worry about your spouse losing your house and your kids will be able to go to college.”

He continued, “I lose two clients every day to 9/11 illnesses. It is so frustrating that still so many people aren’t aware of their rights to healthcare at no cost from the World Trade Center Health Program and significant awards from the Victim Compensation Fund.”

Once again, the VCF faced expiration. The fight to ensure that first responders, workers, residents, students and others in the exposure zones south of Canal Street in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and the crash site in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, would continue to receive care and compensation had to return to Congress.

The cancers associated with toxic exposure were not limited to a specific timeframe. A long-term extension of the fund was essential to provide care and compensation for those who would suffer in the years ahead.

The House of Representatives convened a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing to consider another extension of the VCF. The hearing was attended by first responders, comedian and television host Jon Stewart and others. Yet only five of the subcommittee’s 14 members were present.

Stewart is well known for hosting Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, a satirical news program. When in character, Stewart uses comedy and satire to comment on current events and politics. Less well known is his off-camera advocacy for 9/11 first responders’ and war veterans’ health benefits.

In a recent interview, Stewart spoke of living in Lower Manhattan on September 11, 2001. “I saw firsthand what these men and women did and their sacrifices,” he said.

As time went on and 9/11 first responder health issues were being documented by the World Trade Center Health Program, Stewart was contacted by John Feal, a retired construction worker who was injured during the World Trade Center recovery operation and who became one of the leading advocates for the continuation of the VCF. Feal sought Stewart’s help in convincing Congress to consider a long-term reauthorization of the VCF.

Stewart said he became very aggravated by the lack of attention by Congress. “I was honored to help; I couldn’t let these guys down,” he shared.

During his testimony before the subcommittee, Stewart expressed his disappointment in the subcommittee’s presence saying, “As I sit here today, I can’t help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting healthcare and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to.” He continued, “Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress.”

Stewart spoke of the selfless work of the first responders and their sacrifices that allowed thousands to live on that terrible day. He said, “They (terrorists) attacked America, and these men and women, and their response to it, is what brought our country back. It’s what gave a reeling nation a solid foundation to stand back upon, to remind us of why this country is great, of why this country is worth fighting for. And you are ignoring them!”

He ended his testimony with a dramatic appeal: “They responded in five seconds. They did their jobs with courage, grace, tenacity, humility. Eighteen years later — do yours!”

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Notes

As of today, more than 9,000 deaths have been linked by NIOSH to 9/11-related toxic exposures at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, sites. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Congress permanently extended and fully funded the VCF through 2090.

The VCF provides compensation to individuals who meet the Fund’s eligibility requirements and were affected by the toxins at the World Trade Center, Pentagon or the crash site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Learn more at vcf.gov.