Michael Barasch Takes on the Mayor:

Demands an Apology for James Zadroga

When Michael Barasch first met James Zadroga, the 32 year old detective was suffering from end-stage lung disease.  After working hundreds of hours at the World Trade Center site without respiratory protection, he needed an oxygen tank to breathe. He took 14 prescribed pills every day.  His suffering was immeasurable.

His fight ended in 2005.  The New Jersey Medical Examiner who performed his autopsy found carbon, silica, calcium phosphate, talc and cellulose in his lungs. He determined that detective Zadroga died as a direct result of his work at Ground Zero.

He had a kind of “black-lung” disease typically seen in coal miners.  Our firm was incredibly honored to have represented Mr. Zadroga, and we were deeply saddened by his death.

Recently, Mayor Bloomberg maligned detective Zadroga’s memory, and mocked his tragic death in a hurtful and spurious verbal attack.  Of the man who spent 400 hours at Ground Zero, who lived with so much pain, and who leaves behind an orphaned six-year old daughter, the Mayor said: “he was a drug user ... he was no hero.”

The Mayor’s hurtful words were borne of ignorance.  He never read any of the hundreds of pages of medical records which document Detective Zadroga’s respiratory decline.  He was unaware that the City’s own Police Pension Board formally agreed with the autopsy findings linking Detective Zadroga’s illness and death to the toxic dust he inhaled at Ground Zero.

Tyler Ann, Detective Zadroga’s daughter, is still too young to appreciate the significance of the Mayor’s attack.  However, in a few years his words will haunt her.  Joe and Linda, Jimmy’s  parents, cared for him during his illness.  They were shocked to the core.  We wanted to restore Detective Zadroga’s good name, and to correct the record so that Tyler Ann would always know the truth about her father.  We began a three-week fight to educate the Mayor and the public.  We enlisted the help of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and Congressman Vito Fossella.  We received invaluable assistance from noted forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, as well as doctors at the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. We enlisted the Press to help spread the truth.

As a result of media pressure and cries of outrage from NYPD and FDNY members, as well as their union leaders, Mayor Bloomberg eventually agreed to meet with us.  While he publically apologized to Mr. Zadroga, his words do little to change the fact that many people in government simply do not appreciate the historic and heroic work that was done by thousands of rescue workers.   They certainly do not appreciate the physical, let alone the emotional sacrifices made by those workers, sacrifices which have endangered their lives.

The lawyers and staff of Barasch McGarry are sick and tired of this attitude.  Jimmy Zadroga could not speak up for himself to set the record straight.  We are proud to be able to speak for him.  We will stop at nothing to ensure that rescue workers receive the legal rights and respect that they deserve.