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Published Saturday May 1, 2004 Sept. 11 fund denies one-third of injury compensation claims

WASHINGTON (AP) - A third of the injury claims to the government's 9/11 victim compensation fund have been turned down, mainly for lack of medical proof or because ailments had cleared up.

The fund has received 4,419 injury claims, significantly more than administrators expected when the application period ended late last year. Almost 1,600 have been rejected, fund officials said.

The 2,321 people granted compensation, almost all from injuries sustained at the World Trade Center twin towers cleanup sites, received between $500 and $7.9 million. Decisions on the roughly 500 remaining claims will be made by June 15.

Only a small percentage of the claims were for injuries sustained in the panicked evacuation of the towers and of downtown Manhattan. Most sought money for long-term breathing problems attributed to working on "the pile," the mountain of burning rubble left when the towers collapsed.

In making their determinations, fund administrators seek proof the applicant was at Ground Zero within 72 hours of the terror attacks, or 96 hours in the case of rescue workers. They also insist on medical documentation of the claimed injuries.

Jerry Johnson, a 56-year-old Ground Zero volunteer from Jasper County, Texas, received his official notice denying him compensation Friday.

"I'm disappointed to a degree, but not really angry," said Johnson, who said it was far more important that the fund provide for the families of those killed.

Johnson, a search-and-rescue worker, said he arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 14, 2001, although he got a site pass only on Sept. 15. His doctor has since diagnosed him with pulmonary fibrosis. Johnson said he has difficulty breathing and "absolutely zero" ability to exert himself.

"I'm now totally disabled," he said. Fund administrators did not find a clear link between his time on the pile and his medical condition, which wasn't diagnosed by a doctor until several months later.

The fund's special master, Kenneth Feinberg, emphasized that he found little or no attempted fraud.

"These 1,500 or so people that were denied, they were unsure of whether the program would provide them with the compensation, so they filed unsure of the rules and regulations," Feinberg said. "I think these folks filed a claim perfectly legitimately and later found they weren't covered."

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