From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2006-06-25 01:18:37
9/11 class-action suit filed against NYC www.thejournalnews.c… Thousands claim exposure in 9/11 aftermath
By Shawn Cohen and Jake Shermanspcohen@lohud…
Worby, a 53-year-old Bedford resident, already was one of the region’s most successful personal injury lawyers, an outspoken advocate who set a Westchester and Putnam county record in 1989 by securing $18 million for a construction worker hit by a car on the Hutchinson River Parkway. He’s also a composer, playwright, author, producer and TV writer, according to his Web site. Ice-T and Snoop Dogg, whom Worby calls “unrelated brothers,” will star in one of his screenplays that begins shooting in the fall.He came out of semiretirement to file the suit in September 2004.Initially, his lawsuit got little attention, partly because few took him seriously, including the news media he was courting. But his client list kept growing, largely by word of mouth. Walcott and Volpe, for their part, have referred several people with whom they worked at the World Trade Center site.Although Worby has only met a couple of hundred of his clients, he now has more than a dozen lawyers working full time on the case and a team of medical consultants. His profile has grown to the point that media and politicians are now seeking him out.”David Worby has given a voice to 9/11 heroes who would otherwise be suffering in silence,” said U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who has met Worby to discuss his suit and her fight for a greater government response to the health concerns. “Because our government has basically abandoned these workers, advocates like Mr. Worby have had to intervene on their behalf.”This month, he’s sat down with everyone from The New York Times to “60 Minutes,” declaring that 57 of his clients have already died from 9/11 causes, including two this week.”I predicted two years ago that I would have hundreds of people dying and nobody listened,” he said. “I have 300 people dying of cancer in the next few months. We’re just now entering the latency period for these toxins.”But as with most of the sickness and deaths, he won’t disclose names or evidence linking the illnesses to 9/11, citing privacy concerns. He referred The Journal News to one doctor who is assisting his case, but that person did not return repeated calls.”All you people in the media are torturing me,” Worby said. “You say, ‘Give me doctors, give me scientists.’ Find your own scientists. Challenge me.”He has no medical degree, though one of his consultants dubbed him a “brown-shoe epidemiologist.”The reality is one of the deaths formally linked to 9/11 recovery work was NYPD Detective James Zadroga of New Jersey, whose autopsy found he died from respiratory failure caused by exposure to toxic dust.Some experts say the types of cancer Worby’s reporting typically wouldn’t occur for at least 10 years after exposure but note it could be hastened by the extreme level of toxins at Ground Zero.”It’s a very sad commentary that a lawyer working on his own knows more about the health of people who were exposed to 9/11 hazards than the government, which has a responsibility to protect the public health,” said Jonathan Bennett, spokesman for the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health.‘Reason to be concerned’
The federal government did set up a health registry in 2003 for lower Manhattan residents, workers and rescue personnel. But while 71,000 people participated, the program has come under fire because it gave no medical testing, care or referrals.Under one federal program, Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City has screened about 16,000 World Trade Center responders and treated 1,800 people, though the treatment has a 16-week wait list.Dr. Robin Herbert, the program’s co-director, said “at least a few” of them have developed cancer, although doctors haven’t studied whether they’re linked to Sept. 11.”We are not near the point where we can say anything scientific about the cancer rates among our population,” Herbert said.”The programs we’re operating were not funded to specifically track nor identify deaths among WTC responders,” she added.She refused to comment on the suit but said screeners at Mount Sinai have been “badly surprised by the persistence of our patients’ WTC-related illnesses.””We do know there were various cancer-causing agents in the environment, and I think there is certainly reason to be concerned and to watch this group very carefully,” she said.Worby has not declared how much money his suit will seek but said that his priority is getting the government to address the crisis facing his clients and others.”This is a mission, this is not a case,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. It has nothing to do with being a lawyer. It has everything to do with understanding the medical catastrophe and helping people.”