Hero is ‘pound’ed
No disability pay for obese 9/11 medic
The city’s largest pension board is refusing to grant a disability pension to a 291-pound worker who developed asthma after the cleanup effort at Ground Zero, saying his weight was the chief cause of his illness.
Emergency Medical Technician Michael Abramowitz — who transported body parts of victims to the morgue after 9/11 — was forced to retire in 2010 when FDNY doctors determined his asthma and psoriasis made him medically unfit for the job. He was 56 at the time. So like many others who worked at Ground Zero, Abramowitz applied for a disability pension. A doctor certi- fied that his asthma is “related to 9/11-related dust exposure.”
But the medical board of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System saw things differently and blamed his girth — not exposure to toxins — for his health problem, according to records obtained by The Post.
There’s no question that Abramowitz is obese. He’s 5-9 and weighs 291 pounds, up from 225 in September 2003.
“The medical board is of the opinion that the applicant’s mild restrictive pulmonary disease is secondary to this weight gain over the years,” the board said in a March 3, 2011, decision.
Abramowitz appealed and was turned down a second time in October 2014.
He sued in Brooklyn Supreme Court, where Judge Bernard Graham last November ruled the decision was “not rational” and ordered the board to reconsider.
Graham said it’s not unusual for medical boards to deny enhanced pensions when they can’t find a disease directly linked to service at Ground Zero. But the judge noted that Abramowitz suffers from 9/11-related asthma — which is a condition that qualifies for the disability pension.
Armed with the favorable ruling, Abramowitz went back to the NYCERS board again.
He was in for more disappointment. For a third time, his disability bid was rejected — even though he’s collecting Social Security disability and the state Workers Compensation Board ruled him 72 percent disabled.
His regular pension is about $30,000. A disability pension would be worth about $45,000, tax-free.
Now Abramowitz is going back to court for round 4.
“I feel very insulted,” he said. “We were down there on the front lines with the cops, firefighters, sanitation workers.”
Attacking his weight to deny a disability claim is a low blow, according to Abramowitz.
“My weight went up. I got married . . . you’re going to eat more,” he said. “It’s a shame. It’s a crime what they’re doing to us. If I was a firefighter, I would have gotten” the disability pension.