Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Firefighter Deaths From 9/11 Illnesses Nearly Equal Number Killed In Attack
A heartbreaking milestone聽haunts this year鈥檚 9/11 anniversary 鈥 341 FDNY members have now died of Ground Zero-related illnesses, nearly equaling the death toll for city smoke eaters that perished in the 2001 terror attack. (Andrews and Burke, 9/8)
Two more 9/11 victims are identified with help of advanced forensics 鈥
Two victims recovered from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 have been identified 22 years after the deadly terrorist plot, New York officials said in a Friday release.聽The man and woman, whose names are being withheld at the request of their families, are the聽1,648th and 1,649th victims to be identified, Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jason Graham announced.聽The victims were identified using advanced DNA testing of their remains, including recently adopted next-generation sequencing technology, which has been used to identify missing U.S. service members and the victims of the Maui wildfires.聽(Stimson, 9/8)
Despite forensic advancements, the effort to identify the remains of 9/11 victims has slowed in recent years. The two positive identifications are the first since September 2021, officials said. Before that, the last identification was made in 2019. More than 1,000 human remains from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks have yet to be identified. They are currently being stored at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center site. Dr. Jason Graham, the city鈥檚 chief medical examiner, said officials were committed to fulfilling their 鈥渟olemn pledge鈥 to return the remains of all of the attack鈥檚 victims. (Offenhartz, 9/8)
Also 鈥
Three weeks after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, Jerry Vanderberg returned to his brokerage firm across the street from the still-smoldering pile at Ground Zero and spent days sifting through office documents caked in the fine dust from the fallen Twin Towers. Nine years later, when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. ... But Dr. David Siegel, a myeloma specialist at Hackensack University Medical Center, believes that exposure to 9/11 fumes and dust caused Vanderberg and two of his other patients to develop the disease. (Fallon, 9/11)
Two retired NYPD sergeants, now health care providers, continue to see health challenges among first responders more than two decades after the terrorist attacks. (Zubrow, 9/10)
Mental health experts share insights and tips for handling grief 鈥 and shed new light on the "five stages of grief." (Sudhakar, 9/9)
