Medical Examination Concludes that 9/11 Officer Did Not Die From Exposure

2006, retired NYPD officer James Zadroga who was one of many that worked hundreds of hours at ground zero after 9/11 died of respiratory failure. An autopsy said it was because of the exposure. However a recent medical examination says otherwise.

After his death of respiratory failure, retired NYPD officer James Zadroga was put as the poster face of the illnesses of post-September 11 where people were exposed to debris that was inhaled working hundreds of hours working ground zero. It was to be the health-related casualty tied towards ground zero. But it would seem that the community was hit by a ton of bricks. That ton of bricks would be the letter from the city’s medical examiner sending a letter explaining that the Zadroga’s death by respiratory failure was not caused by the toxic air inhaled while working at ground zero. This is one of many cases regarding health-related deaths of post-September 11. The family had hoped their son would get recognition as one of the people part of the September 11 death toll. Before the letter concluding that the death wasn’t a result of breathing toxic air at ground zero, the death became a polarizing symbol for the plight of ground zero workers whose healthy had degenerated within the months. Like Zadroga, many others have spent hundreds of countless hours looking for survivors. It is said that Zadroga had spent almost five-hundred hours going through the ruins. By 2002 marking the first anniversary of September 11, Zadroga was inflicted by a constant cough. A report said that Zadroga died of inflammatory lung disease. It said that he had material consistent with his lungs. The material is started to have damaged Zadroga’s heart and liver. The president of Zadroga’s union Michael Palladino said that he is appalled that the medical examiner’s office had sent a letter to the family with their “unequivocal” opinion saying that he didn’t die from breathing the toxic air. He also added that they didn’t include what he actually died from. In short, Zadroga’s union president doesn’t trust the letter.