N001309
Wednesday, January 02, 2002 11:50 PM
DO NOT FORGET US - WE ARE VICTIMS TOO
Dear Kenneth Feinberg
I was a seriously burned individual from WTC 9/11 who spent over 3 weeks in
the hospital for skin grafts to burns over 25% of my body. I listened to
your press conference on Dec 23 (C-Span Website) which showed the grid for
the 'presumptive awards' based mostly on age & salary. It was your
contention that this grid should be reviewed by each family with their lawyer
so that they could better judge if this plan was right for them. However, as
an injured party who will suffer the effects of my injuries for my entire
life, I have been given NO guideline, NO suggestion, NO idea what type of
compensation I can expect. How could your office fairly expect me to sign on
to this program blindly. In normal litagation, I had always heard that
injured parties are usually awarded higher awards than the deceased because
they have to live with their injuries. Is this a presumption that would be
applied in this case? Will there be different pain and suffering tiers for
the injured or does your office feel that the pain and suffering of the
injured is no different than the deceased endured?
Also, one other important matter. Every newspaper, press release, TV
program talks of the 'Victim'. It is obvious that they are refering to the
deceased and their families. WHAT OF THE INJURED? We are so ignored that it
truely makes be cry. There needs to be a differentiation that is addressed
in your press releases so that we 'the injured' know that we too were
'victims', victims that will be suffering for the rest of their lives.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Brightwaters, NY