Felicia Dunn-Jones was a civil rights lawyer who worked one block away from the World Trade Center. She fled the office on 9/11, inhaling dust from the falling towers. She was covered with ash laced with asbestos and other hazardous material as she ran for safety. Now, nearly six years later, over five years after her death, New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch has determined that Dunn-Jones’s death was related to the 9/11 attack. In the days and months following the attact, Dunn-Jones developed a serious cough and had trouble breathing. She died five months later.
Dr. Hirsch has amended Dunn-Jones’s death certificate to indicate that exposure to trade center dust “was contributory to her death.” The manner of death thus changes from natural causes to homicide.
The medical examiner still has some doubts as to whether the trade center dust caused the sarcoidosis that killed Ms. Dunn-Jones. He suspects it was a pre-existing condition, nonetheless clearly and significantly aggravated by the exposure on 9/11.
Who Pays?
The issue for Dunn-Jones’s family is not one of payment. They have already received $2.6 million from the Victim Compensation Fund. But it does raise an interesting question relative to workers compensation: was Dunn-Jones’s illness work-related?
In the moments following the attack, Dunn-Jones fled her office. Technically, once she reached the streets, she was no longer at work…She was commuting, heading away from work. She eventually made her way home to Staten Island.
An administrative law judge could reasonably conclude that this is not a work-related illness. Dunn-Jones happened to be at work, which happened to be near the World Trade Center, which happened to be attacked. Once she fled the building, she was a commuter (a commuter suffering from terror, but a commuter nonetheless). On the other hand, an equally reasonable judge might lean toward compensability, based upon the fact that Dunn-Jones was at work when the attack took place – and it was physically impossible for her to remain there. She was not engaged in an ordinary commute, but a horrific flight from immanent danger.
Perhaps these are morbid distinctions that most of us would prefer to ignore. But the center attack is certainly not the last incident of its kind. Millions of employers are paying for workers comp policies, under the assumption that employees are covered for work-related injury and illness. If and when the next attack comes, the issue of compensability will quickly become paramount. It is no exaggeration to state that the future of the insurance industry as a whole might be at stake.
In the meantime, we would do well to return to the Book of Common Prayer for consolation. Sure, we are inclined in this country to translate tragedy into dollars. Someone must pay for all the pain, suffering and loss. But beyond the issue of jackpot settlements lies the simple fact of our mortality. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
