Police Union Sues City Seeking Compensation For 9/11 Responder

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index...id=6&aid=70319

June 01, 2007

The Police Benevolent Association filed a lawsuit Friday to force the city to pay the medical bills of an officer who says he got sick from working at the World Trade Center site after the September 11th terror attacks.

The PBA filed the suit on behalf of 36-year-old Officer Christopher Hynes who claims he inhaled some 400 lethal toxins, shards of shards, and pulverized concrete at the site.

He says he was never given a proper respiratory apparatus and was later diagnosed with sarcoidosis. He remains on restricted duty.

Hynes’ insurance company sued him for $5,000 after he was unable to keep up with his medical bills related to his treatment.

The PBA says firefighters with September 11th-related sarcoidosis are routinely granted line-of-duty status and the city pays all their medical bills.

The NYPD has denied Hynes line-of-duty designation benefits, and the PBA says that shows the department does not believe there's a medical link between Hynes' illness and his work at the WTC site.

A department spokesman had no comment on the lawsuit.

Last week, the city medical examiner ruled Felicia Dunn-Jones's death a homicide – after the examiner says her death from the same disease was partially caused by toxins at the site.