An answering machine from September 11 with potential pancreatic cancer was informed this week that he could not start chemotherapy. According to Dr. David Prezant, New York fire doctor and director of her health program at the New York World Trade Center and director of her World Trade Center health program in New York.
“We have postponed chemotherapy for a firefighter this week, hoping that it could be corrected,” said prezant “he is too young for Medicare, and this delay could cost him his life”.
The three patients were part of the World Trade Center health program funded by the federal government – a system created to take care of those who risked their lives on September 11, 2001. But the program stopped, said Prézant.
The long -standing leader of the program, Dr. John Howard, was deleted in February – then recovers after the Bipartite. But according to Prezant, it is not clear if his legal role as administrator has been carried out.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrandspeaks at a press conference on April 6, 2025, calling the Trump administration to fully restore key staff of the World Trade Center health program.
Ron Adar / Sopa images via SIPA USA via AP
“It seems that Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) and the administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), were not correctly reinstated as the administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program, such as the department of health services and the NY Republican members of the Congress, April, “Website.
Prézant said that although he has repeatedly asked for clarification of the World Trade Center health program, he has provided no information on the reason why Howard was not fully restored or why the certifications cannot continue.
He said it was not clear if Howard’s position was in limbo due to Doges Cups or another reason. The defenders also said that they thought that the status of Howard limbo seems to be separated from previous personnel cuts and budgetary deficits have aggravated by inflation.
But without formal certification, the treatment of new conditions cannot take place, he stressed.
ABC contacted the Ministry of Health and Social Services for an explanation but has not heard. In a statement sent earlier this week in response to the endowment cuts, a spokesman for the agency said: “The program continues to accept and examine new registration requests and certification requests.”
However, an HHS internal email sent earlier this month which was shared with ABC News said: “We were invited not to deal with new certifications.”
Until this week, clinics have been authorized to start treating patients under “initial approvals,” said prezant, pending formal certification of the federal program. But this emergency bypass solution was closed this week, he explained.
The process of carrying out formal certification required the submission of documentation such as biopsy results, pulmonary analyzes and other medical evidence – then acquire a signature from the program administrator, who should have been Howard.
It is “a clear sign that Dr. Howard was not entirely restored,” according to Prezant.
To receive care through the program, a speaker or a survivor must first register – then have his illness officially certified by the federal program as being linked to the exhibition on September 11. Certification is a distinct and critical step.
Clinics must subject medical evidence, such as biopsy or pulmonary analyzes, and it is only after the program approves it can be filed in the future or that compensation complaints are filed. Without someone in place to authorize these certifications, patients with newly diagnosed conditions are blocked pending.
In addition to his freezing on certification diseases, Prezant said he seemed that the program could no longer register new members or approve vital treatments such as chemotherapy, pulmonary transplants or stem cell therapy.
Sixteen doctors, nurses and program support staff were dismissed in early April – exhausting the program by around 20%.
A firefighter helmet with the words “We will never forget” is seen during the Souvenir event on September 11.
Peter Zay / Anadolu via Getty Images
Howard’s little clear status follows the layoffs earlier this month which followed a series of previous cuts in February-but these were reversed after the bipartite. It has not yet been established if one of the newly licensed employees was part of the original group.
Be that as it may, the decision again left the program in the sub-employment, according to clinical leaders and advocacy groups.
The program now serves more than 150,000 people nationally, compared to around 76,000 in 2015, according to data from the centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A bipartite bill, HR 1410, was presented in February to fill the financing gap as the registrations increased, but it remains blocked in the congress.
“We do not decide who qualifies,” said prezant, noting that eligibility rules and certification decisions are set by the federal program under the Zadroga law. “It protects the system against fraud – and it works.”
He underlined FDNY data showing that five years after a cancer diagnosis, 86% of program patients are still alive – against only 66% among diagnosed in New York State which are not registered in the program.
Now, according to Prezant and others, patients from the 50 states that rely on program care are refused without clear responses at the time or if the system will be restored.
“No one asks anything more than what has been promised under the law,” said prezant, referring to the commitment of the Zagroda law to provide medical care and lifelong surveillance for respondents and survivors whose diseases are linked to their exposure. “We just want the federal government to honor this promise before more lives are lost.”