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
Regarding Lawyers... doing the right thing, or always being right... guess again. Lawyers will work to 'take as much as they can' as dead people don't pay bills. Especially those whom are sick, as they have big $$ bills to pay!! Also, in a legal matter one side wins the other side loses... so lawyers are going to be 50% wrong!! Amazing this last fact is not usually discussed.
The towers were full of carcinogens like asbestos. Unless it can be proven otherwise I would say its reasonable to believe that the government - especially the CDC is responsible (especially after the CDC lied about the air being safe after 9/11).
As a side note, Silverstein was so lucky. He would have had to of paid hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up that asbestos if it was not for 9/11 dumping it all into the lungs of those rescue workers and residents.
The real disgrace is that they had to be shamed into doing that much for them by Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show), of all people!
I DO know that the holdup in Congress was because of the PROPER and Legitimate concern that anything they might do in this regard might have adversly effected the court cases..
THAT was the position of BOTH the Republican Congresses and the Democrat one..
This story seems to be yet another enemy victory.. lawyer greed.