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Man's death not linked toGround Zero dust: official

The family of a New York City police detective who died after working at Ground Zero met for several hours on Friday with New York City medical examiners who had concluded that the detective's death could not be linked to the toxic dust there.

Charles Hirsch, the chief medical examiner, sent a letter on Tuesday to Detective James Zadroga's father, Joseph Zadroga of Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, stating "with certainty beyond doubt" that the material found in the detective's lungs "did not get there as the result of inhaling dust at the World Trade Center or elsewhere."

contradiction

After the meeting, Joseph Zadroga slipped out a side door and drove off without saying anything. The family's lawyer, Michael Barasch, declined to give any details about the meeting or why the medical examiner had contradicted a New Jersey pathologist, who concluded last year that the detective's death was caused by respiratory failure "directly related" to Ground Zero dust.

"Two rational men can disagree," Barasch said. "So the family will leave it to the court of public opinion and let the public decide what makes the most sense here."

Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, said that the Zadroga family had asked Hirsch a few months ago to examine the autopsy report because they wanted Zadroga's name to be added to the official list of victims of the attack.

"Dr. Hirsch gave his personal assurance to the family that he would keep the details of the meeting private and confidential," Borakove said.

other cases

She said the medical examiner had also done re-examinations for three or four other families of people whose deaths were possibly linked to working at Ground Zero and had rejected such a conclusion for all of them.

She said that one other review, still pending, was for Cesar Borja, a police officer who died in January of pulmonary fibrosis.His family claimed he had become ill after rushing to Ground Zero and spending many hours there. But records showed his exposure to the dust was far more limited.

The New Jersey pathologist, Gerard Breton, who had conducted the autopsy on Zadroga, said in an interview on Friday that he was not changing his opinion that the detective's death was linked to his exposure to Ground Zero dust.

Breton said that Armed Forces Institute of Pathology had identified the foreign material from Zadroga's lungs, and that he concluded the material was consistent with Ground Zero dust.
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