Opinion

If like me, you have something to say about a news story please email them to us and they will be posted here.

05.09.03

Who Would Want this Job?  

There has been much dismay in the press recently focused towards the Victims Compensation Fund and the Special Master that Congress has appointed to run it. From law suits, to claimants that feel that their award is not, improper or questionable calculations, economic and no-economic losses and so on. The list grows. Not forgetting the case of injured people.

Being Special Master must be a tough job. After all no matter how much experience in mass tort cases any one person may have, I can confidentially say that no one could have ever imagined that they would have the job of putting a price on a human life or the value of a human life.  

I am not coming out in defense of the Special Master. I think that some of the rules written did not take into account that the events of 9/11 were unprecedented in world history. A WW2 survivor of Pearl Harbor stated on a recent Discovery TV show that, even though over 50 years later, he felt that 9/11 was far worse that Pearl Harbor because in 1941 that was an act of war, and an attack on a military installation.  

I pull no punches in this website to question certain factors on personal injury claims. I have read hundreds, maybe thousands of documents in the last year and stated my interpretation about them. At least we live in a country that welcomes this type of opinion.  

Some people, including the Federal government have stated many times that the events in Iraq and Afghanistan really started back on 9/11. This makes me angry. Are our politicians and law makers saying that people died and sustained injury because of war?  

I have one thing to ask you; were we at war? We all know the answer.  

The Special Master has to appear, and I am sure wholeheartedly, as compassionate and in touch with peoples loss and mourning of loved ones. It’s not something I would like to do. Where I feel the shortcomings are is that the same has not applied to the people injured that day.

To date the ‘rules’ stand. To be eligible an injured person must have sort medical help within 24-72 hours. There is nothing stating that a claimant should have the right to prove their own case on an individual basis. This concerns me as I sit here in pain after a rather unpleasant minor procedure I had yesterday. I wonder why these broad stroke rules are in place.

I am not the only person to feel this way, I know of may injured people that carry the same notion. It’s a shame that the amount of traffic that this website gets more people have not made contact. I wonder why?

Our state Governor and Attorney General have even shown their concerns about the rules and regulations and have posed some interesting questions. As yet I am still searching the web for information but the following two links make some interesting reading.

http://www.oag.state.ny.us http://www.usdoj.gov/victimcompensation

But the more I think about it the role of the Special Master the more I have to force myself to understand what a difficult mine field of a task that he has to walk through. Rules are for everyone’s protection, even though that they seem unfair to some and right to others. The fund has to insure itself against fraudulent claims. But it also need to address individual cases and needs. Remember the old saying; rules are made to broken?

The Special Master can, use his sole discretion in individual cases. He has in the past. No matter how long it takes each case needs to be carefully looked at, considered and weighed on its own merit. But time is a factor. Each day the lives of injured people sink lower because of varying factors such as health and finances.

The Special Master has a tough job on his hands. No matter what he does it is definitely a case of: ‘Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t’. It’s definitely not a job that I will like; and I have never been a person to turn down a challenge.

In an ideal world everyone affected should get recompense for what they have gone through. For pain, suffering, losses etc. But I hate to be the one to point out the obvious; we don’t live in an ideal world. If we did then the date 9/11 would only be in someone calendar to mark a birthday or anniversary. It would have no significant meaning and many families and individuals would not have to live with a reminder of what those three digits now stand for.

Since September 2001 I have gone throng a lot.  Failing health and the inability to work takes its toll any person. Hours tick by, days merge into a blur and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

I am sure that the Special Master never took this job for any reasons of glory, higher office, ego etc. He took the job because he has the right experience. He was offered the job because he was the right person to do it. Please take that experience and knowledge and the one common factor that ties us all together; being human.

Consider this. One fine morning, the same as any other, everything you knew and loved surrounding you was ripped away. Your world and the world around you will never be the same.

Indescribable fear engulfed you; your mind and normal reasoning tossed around. Each step you took was either to safety or danger. But who knew? Factor in the effects of emotions and fear of 9/11. Only then can you realize what was in the hearts of all people affected.

The human mind has one clear instruction built into it; survival. Nothing else would matter but to survive. Injury or not, survival is paramount, back then, now and the future.

Unless any injury was threatening survival it is not unreasonable for any person to leave their home to seek medical attention. It’s not unreasonable to abstain from leaving the sanctuary and safety of home to step into the unknown. For me; it was about staying home, staying safe.

Right now the role of Special Master is a hard one to fill. But the role of a living injured citizen is even tougher.

Dennis