Quantcast

Official Cause of Death: 9/11 Dust

2007_05_fdj.jpgThe city's medical examiner's office classified that a woman's death was due to dust from the World Trade Center wreckage dust. Staten Island resident Felicia Dunn-Jones, a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Education with a husband and two children, was covered in dust on September 11, 2001 from the first collapse. She later developed sarcoidosis and died on February 10, 2002. Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch wrote in a letter, "It is likely, with certainty beyond a reasonable doubt, that exposure to WTC dust was harmful to [Ms. Dunn-Jones] ... and that exposure to World Trade Center Dust on 9/11/01 was contributory to her death. The manner of death will be changed from natural to homicide."

Dunn-Jones' family received $2.6 million from the September 11th Victim Compensation, which ruled her death was "in fact linked to the dust." But the family was looking for the city to reclassify the cause of death after Dunn-Jones' husband's attempt to have her added to the victims' list was rejected in 2004. The NY Times reports that husband Joseph Jones' lawyer continued to collect evidence and sent it to the Hirsch, who then came around. Representative Carolyn Maloney said, "The city medical examiner has now accepted what thousands of people with 9/11-related illnesses and their doctors have long understood: that ground zero dust was harmful and even deadly."

Dunn-Jones will be added to the World Trade Center Memorial, and her death puts the number of victims at 2,750.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • Brooklyn Book Worm

    The event recorded here is largely bureaucratic. The woman's family received compensation from the 9/11 victims' fund, and her name is already included on the very beautiful Staten Island 9/11 memorial. The ME's decision has simply placed her name on the official City list.

    But it does set a precedent for adding more "consequent" deaths to the official tally and the memorial to be built at Ground Zero.

  • angry

    Yes because some people believe only someone with a PhD can uncover truths.

  • Stevennnn

    does it really take rocket science to know all the WTC dust was going to kill people?

  • Rocknrope

    Having almost left my building a few blocks away from Ground Zero just before the towers came down, I must say this story is some scary shite.

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com