Occupational medicine expert Dr. Mohammed Ranavaya is an expert witness in a case concerning pulmonary illness in first responders to the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Ranavaya is chief of the division of occupational and disability medicine at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, WV, and will determine the nature and extent of lung injuries sustained by firefighters and first responders as a result of the World Trade Center disaster. Ranavaya says many first responders were exposed to various toxic pollutants when the towers came down, from dust and debris to fumes. "As a result of that, they developed the pulmonary problems and they were diagnosed with a variety of ailments by the local doctors," he said.
Many first responders began applying for medical benefits related to ailments such as asthma or bronchitis after 9/11. "One of the questions is, how much of their lung problems were related to the exposure during the World Trade Center disaster and how much was pre-existing?" he said.
Excerpted from Herald-Dispatch.com.
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