Recent Blog Posts

The VCF hearing process has been largely uncharted territory, owing in part to the fact that the Zadroga Act did not provide any detailed guidelines for adjudicating contested VCF eligibility and compensation decisions. Indeed, the first such hearings have only taken place within the last year. However, consistent with the purpose of the Act, the […]

Tragically, many children were victims of the World Trade Center collapse, Pentagon attack and plane crash at Shanksville. Some lost parents either during the attacks or in later years as a result of 9/11-related diseases. Others who lived or attended school in lower Manhattan sustained physical injuries or illnesses. In fact, children exposed to the […]

The psychological aftermath of being involved in an event such as 9/11 can be just as painful, debilitating and real as any physical injury. Even more than a decade later, many first responders still struggle with flashbacks, anxiety, depression and other serious psychiatric symptoms. For some, these issues can reach disabling severity. For others, they […]

For most VCF claimants, non-economic losses represent the bulk of their recovery. While out of pocket costs for medical treatment — as well as lost wages from total or partial disability — can be significant, intangible losses like pain, disfigurement and the inability to fully enjoy life’s pleasures remain a major factor. Unfortunately, proving the […]

In a 2006 New York Times article, the co-director of Mount Sinai’s World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program, Dr. Robin Herbert, stressed the lifelong health consequences faced by ground zero workers: ”There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center disaster . . . Our […]

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages. As a result, same-sex partners who were legally married in their home state were nonetheless denied federal benefits. In 2002, Kenneth R. Feinberg, the special master of the initial September 11 Victim Compensation Fund (VCF), announced that gay and lesbian domestic […]