Dec 3, 2007 7:25 am US/Eastern
9/11 First Responders Protest Lack Of Gov't Help
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Several 9/11 first responders rallied today, protesting the medical examiner's classification of Ground Zero deaths.
Friends say EMS worker Brian Ellicott was a hero. The 45-year-old spent hours working at Ground Zero after the attacks on September 11th. His union says he died last week of cancer after being exposed to toxic dust. Other first responders say they're sick, too.
"I was in a coma for 16 days with respiratory failure," said Jim Riches.
Riches, who lost his son on 9/11, was among several first responders today protesting what he calls the medical examiner's refusal to properly classify the deaths of his colleagues who died after 9/11.
"I got slapped in the face twice," Riches told CBS 2 HD. "My son died because bad radio equipment, I got sick because they me didn't give respirators, proper equipment."
Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel said the first responders "are American heroes," and added that "we must do everything we can help them and their families."
No one at the medical examiner's office was available for comment.
Donna Michaels says her detective husband is sick from spending hundreds of hours at Ground Zero, and the city refuses to give him disability.
"They were facing complete and utter denial that the illnesses even exist despite the valid medical tests," said Michaels.
One lawmaker is introducing a bill to help Ellicott's family, as well as others.
State Senator Eric Adams D-Brooklyn said, "We owe it to them to give them the respectable amount of health care benefits to their families and others."
Adams plans on introducing his bill next week.
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