It shouldn't matter, he put his life on the line for his country in a time of national emergency, and now needs help in an emergency of his own.
If we turn our backs on him and others like him, we just plain suck as a people.
Do You Think Working at Ground Zero Caused This Guy's Cancer?
SodaHead News
2011/08/01 14:00:00
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Stop me when this story starts to sound absurd. After nearly a decade of fighting, Congress finally passed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund in January, providing for health care monitoring and financial aid to workers who became sick after working on the toxic pile of burning materials at Ground Zero.
True story, the bill does not include coverage for cancer. But that's not why Ground Zero worker Edgard Galvis was a bit surprised recently when he finally received a compensation check for his work on the pile – for $0.
According to The New York Post, cancer-stricken Galvis, 51, a Queens native who suffered from sinus problems and throat cancer after months of removing toxic debris from the World Financial Center, was excited to get the check following a court settlement with Merrill Lynch, whose offices he had cleaned.
His settlement was for $10,005, but once his lawyers carved out $2,579 for un-itemized legal expenses, then snatched another 33.3 percent for their fee ($2,124), $352 in fees for the lawyer who referred him and $4,950 for unspecified "liens," there was, literally, nothing left.
Galvin, who is jobless and $30,000 in debt, told the Post he thought the final amount was repayment of the workers' compensation for aid. The father of two lives with his fiancée and her two children and relies on relatives to pay his rent.
In April 2010 he was offered $10,000 to settle from a law firm that warned that going to trial could end up costing him $100,000, so he took the $10K.
"I think they are taking advantage of the ignorance of people such as myself," he said.
True story, the bill does not include coverage for cancer. But that's not why Ground Zero worker Edgard Galvis was a bit surprised recently when he finally received a compensation check for his work on the pile – for $0.
According to The New York Post, cancer-stricken Galvis, 51, a Queens native who suffered from sinus problems and throat cancer after months of removing toxic debris from the World Financial Center, was excited to get the check following a court settlement with Merrill Lynch, whose offices he had cleaned.
His settlement was for $10,005, but once his lawyers carved out $2,579 for un-itemized legal expenses, then snatched another 33.3 percent for their fee ($2,124), $352 in fees for the lawyer who referred him and $4,950 for unspecified "liens," there was, literally, nothing left.
Galvin, who is jobless and $30,000 in debt, told the Post he thought the final amount was repayment of the workers' compensation for aid. The father of two lives with his fiancée and her two children and relies on relatives to pay his rent.
In April 2010 he was offered $10,000 to settle from a law firm that warned that going to trial could end up costing him $100,000, so he took the $10K.
"I think they are taking advantage of the ignorance of people such as myself," he said.
Top Opinion
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Tea in the Harbor 2011/08/01 18:48:57
As someone who has worked in oncology for nigh on 20 years, I would have a very hard time saying that his cancer was caused by ground zero work in the absence of numerous other people with the same problems, a la a “Love Canal”-type thing.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and is with a crowd of other ducks - how much proof do you need to BE a duck?
SOME of the workers that now have cancer did NOT get cancer from ground zero, that is a fact.
Quack.
They’re also (supposedly) not about punishment. Criminal justice is for punishment. Civil tort law is for making the injured party whole (financially as if the injury had never happened). Unfortunately, this has been corrupted by the concept of “punitive damages,” which should never have been permitted to exist)
Is it more likely than unlikely that 9/11 caused this man’s cancer? If so, then he qualifies for the damages.
Heros don't demand compensation for their good deeds.
This man in specific however was not a rescue or recovery worker or support volunteer. He was hired to clean the mess up.
It turned out his employer did not adequately protect him from, nor disclose the extreme toxic nature of his job. Now he is ill. Doesn't he deserve to at the very minimum have his healthcare bills covered?
From the article:
"The lawsuit is not unusual -- rescuers sue those they helped more often than people think, legal experts said."
ARE THESE MEN HEROS?
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/U...
Good samaritans should have some protection in case of injury though - then this would not happen
I do know, however, that it is very possible.
I do have to say, though, that the lawyers disgust me. They represented him and then took every penny of his settlement.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/...