Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. January 14, 2002 BY FAX: (301) 519-5956 AND CERTIFIED MAIL, RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED Kenneth L. Zwick Director, Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20530 RE: Comments on Interim Final Rule regarding September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, 28 CFR Part104 Dear Mr. Zwick: We hereby submit our comments on the interim final rule regarding the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, 28 CFR Part 104. The comments set forth herein address the failure of the regulations to meet their stated objective of treating victims of the terrorist attacks fairly, predictably and consistently. Since the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act provides that the mere submission of a claim under the Fund operates as a waiver of the right to file a civil action for damages, Sec, 405(c)(3)(B)(i), it is critically important that the unfair and inconsistent provisions discussed below be revised so that all individuals injured in the terrorist attacks will be able to seek compensation from the Fund. The regulations as presently promulgated exclude from Fund compensation those whose primary injuries are post-traumatic stress disorder and those who, for good reason, did not receive treatment for more than twenty- four hours. If such individuals submitted claims to the Fund and were found to be ineligible, they would be deemed to have waived their right to seek damages in a civil action. Thus, any individual whose eligibility is uncertain will be forced to choose litigation and forego a claim for Fund compensation. 1. The 24-Hour Rule. The Act provides that compensation under the Fund is limited to those who were at the site of the crashes at the time or in the immediate aftermath of the crashes and "suffered physical harm or death as a result of such an air crash." Sec. 405(c)(2)(A). The regulations further restrict eligibility by defining physical harm as "physical injury to the body that was treated by a medical professional within 24 hours of the injury having been sustained or within 24 hours of rescue." §104.2(c)(1). This artificial restriction fails to account for the chaos and confusion in the aftermath of the attacks which prevented many injured individuals from seeking medical treatment for several days. Indeed, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of January 11, 2002 published a study which showed that fewer than 800 people were treated at hospitals nearest to the World Trade Center over the two days following September 11. There are many legitimate reasons why victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks may not have received medical treatment within 24 hours of injury or rescue. During the first 24 hours after the attack, many victims who were able to stumble away from the scene may have been suffering from shock rendering them incapable of seeking appropriate medical care or even identifying medical problems until they eventually received assistance from others to do so. There were probably many victims in New York City who tried to seek prompt medical care, but were unable to obtain it due to the overburdened emergency medical system and the disruption of telephone communications during those initial hours of crisis. It would be unfair to deny eligibility for compensation through the Fund to victims who did not obtain immediate medical care for any of these types of reasons. Therefore, we propose that this provision of the regulation be amended to require that claimants sought treatment by a medical professional within a week of the injury having been sustained or identified or within a week of rescue. 2. Exclusion of Compensation for Damages Related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The regulation's definition of the statutory term "physical harm" excludes Fund compensation for those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) who have no "physical injury to the body" meeting the requirements of 104.2(c), although PTSD sufferers may experience physiological symptoms 1 which would reasonably be deemed to constitute "physical harm." This exclusion drastically undermines the regulation's stated purpose of providing fair and consistent compensation to the victims of September 11. The eligibility regulations include individuals who sustained relatively minor physical injuries while excluding individuals suffering sever emotional and mental trauma whose actual damages may be much more significant. For example, a person who was on the street near the World Trade Center at 1 See the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition("DSM IV")309.81. the time of the attacks, but before the collapse of the buildings, began running, tripped and sprained his ankle, and was taken to the hospital would be eligible for compensation, while a person who was on a high floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center when it was hit, struggled for over an hour to descend the stairway, exited the building as the South Tower collapsed around him, witnessed the horrific scene of carnage at the site, and (while not sustaining any "physical injury to the body" as defined by §104.2(c)), developed a severe, protracted, and totally disabling case of post-traumatic stress disorder would not be eligible for any compensation. Moreover, it seems(although it is somewhat ambiguous) that, for those who have both a "physical injury to the body" and post-traumatic stress, only those economic losses(including medical expenses and lost earnings) and non-economic losses which were caused by the physical injury are compensable. §§104.45(a) and (b) and 104.46. These provisions of the regulations thwart the statutory provision that "emotional pain" and "mental anguish" are compensable, losses. Sec. 402(7). Therefore we propose that post-traumatic stress disorder be included within the regulation's definition of "physical harm". Alternatively, the regulation should be amended to make it clear that, for those who meet the physical injury eligibility requirement of 104.2(c), all economic and non-economic losses caused to them by the airline crashes be compensable, including damages resulting from post-traumatic stress rather than from physical injury. Thank you for your consideration of these comments. Very truly yours, Comment by: Zalkind, Rodriquez,Lint & Duncan LLP Boston, MA September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002657.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-12