On Sept. 11, 2001 , nearly 3,000 people were killed in four separate, terrorist-led plane crashes .
Most died soon after the suicide attacks due …
On Sept.11,2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed in four separate, terrorist-led plane crashes. Most died soon after the suicide attacks due to smoke inhalation or the impact of buildings collapsing in Manhattan. The recovery effort took nine months. Twenty years later, more people have died from toxic exposure than on that day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The toll that the World Trade Center attacks took on survivors is emotional, physical and financial, and in the last two decades, victims have been awarded more than $8 billion in the form of monetary payments for economic losses as well as health care treatment for those suffering from illnesses related to the attacks. Sullivan Papain Block McGrath Coffinas & Cannavot, a law firm that has represented New York City’s firefighters union for four decades, as well as more than 4,000 individuals with 9/11-related health problems, recieved 362 wrongful death and/or personal injury claims after the attacks, personal injury lawyer Nick Papain told Fox News. « No department was more devastated than the fire department on 9/11, » Papain said. « The firefighters and other first responders have not only suffered physical illnesses but post-traumatic stress disorder because they were down there for days and weeks and months — initially in the rescue efforts and then in the recovery efforts. And a lot of them have suffered from survivor’s guilt, from having seen fellow firefighters in their own firehouses who perished on 9/11. » The Victim’s Compensation Fund (VCF), which provides benefits to 9/11 survivors facing health issues or economic losses as a result of the World Trade Center collapse, opened in 2001 after the attacks. The first special master of the fund was Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who handled settlement cases for many other victim compensation funds, including the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the One Fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims and the TARP Executive Compensation. Over the 33-month period Feinberg worked to finalize details of the original VCF, he met with more than 1,500 family members personally. The average award for claimants at this time was $2 million. Andrew Ansbro, who represents more than 20,000 active and retired firefighters as president of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), and Michael Schreiber, the sergeant-at-arms of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, are both recipients of VCF health care benefits for 9/11-related illnesses. The World Trade Center attacks were both fighterfighters’ first emergency response jobs with the FDNY 20 years ago. Schreiber told Fox News he was injured during the attacks and underwent ACL reconstruction, which kept him out of work for eight months at the time. He has also experienced other 9/11-related health problems within the last five years, including acid reflux, sleep apnea and sinus pain.
