Settlement Deadline for 9/11 Rescue Workers Approaches as More 9/11 Rescue Workers Fall Ill

The casualty rate of 9/11 rescue workers has risen to 916 in the years following 9/11. The long term health effects from the poisonous gases and dusts still remain a mystery, but one thing is for sure, on-the-scene rescuers who survived 9/11 rescue missions are being offered $800 million in settlement to split among them. With so many unanswered questions, many 9/11 heroes are feeling like they are getting the short end of the stick.

Today is that deadline for rescue workers to accept the $800 million settlement. The funds would be distributed among approximately 10,000 rescue workers, so they would receive approximately $80,000 a piece.

The real problem is the government doesn't want to push for autopsies for other rescue workers who died premature deaths from complications that may be associated with 9/11.

Now, nine years after the terror attacks, doctors and some New York lawmakers are urging the federal Department of Health and Human Services to draft autopsy protocols to pinpoint 9/11-related fatalities, the Daily News has learned.

Astonishingly, there are no written standards to help doctors diagnose post-9/11 deaths, leaving a void that's wreaked enormous emotional pain and conflict on survivors.

"It was heart-wrenching," said Joe Zadroga, who watched his NYPD officer son, James, slowly deteriorate from scarred lungs until he died in 2007.

Relatives and friends know in their hearts what really killed the hero in their family - even if health officials refuse to recognize it.

"I mean, we knew what he died from. We dealt with it for four years," Zadroga added.

A medical examiner in New Jersey had ruled James Zadroga died from 9/11 exposure, only to have the city declare - for a time - that drug abuse killed him.

The city later relented, but Zadroga is one of only a handful of people whose death has been officially linked to the toxins of the ruined twin towers.

"Many of the responders who worked at the site and other survivors are dying," Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan), Pete King (R-L.I.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) say in a letter to the feds, obtained by The News.

In a study released in June last year, state officials identified 836 responders who have died since 9/11. Advocates know of at least 80 more, and doctors believe the total will be well over 1,000 in the next survey this year.

"We do not know to what extent WTC exposures contributed to their deaths, or whether their deaths were unrelated," the lawmakers wrote, seeking a set of guidelines.

Such autopsy rules could have huge impacts on people who believe terrorists are to blame for killing their loved ones.

"It is very emotional," said Jim Melius, who oversees the 9/11 health-monitoring program.

He says autopsies would help doctors understand Ground Zero illnesses and craft better treatments.

So with no guidelines into researching the actual causes of illness and deaths, there appears to be a rush to settle with 9/11 survivors before any type of autopsy guidelines can be pushed through.