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9/11 victim gets $4m 'for pain'
04/06/2004 21:44 - (SA)
New York - A 32-year-old woman who was critically injured in the September 11 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre was awarded $8.6m, the largest compensation received by any of those who suffered losses of family members or injuries, news reports said on Friday.
It was the highest sum paid to date by the Victim Compensation Fund, created by congress for families of the estimated 3& 000 people who died and for people injured in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.
Deborah Mardenfeld, a human resources manager for a credit-card company, was crushed under debris that fell from one of the 110-storey twin towers when terrorist-hijacked planes destroyed the buildings.
She had just emerged from a subway station under one of the towers when it was attacked.
$4.6m for medical costs
She had spent most of the past three years in hospital to undergo 27 different reconstructive operations and will need 10 more in the future, doctors said, according to news reports.
The steel and concrete debris that hit her sliced off her buttocks, split open her back, punctured her intestines and fractured her legs.
The award was split into $4m for pain and the remaining $4.6m for medical costs, which doctors said she would need for the rest of her life.
More than 5 000 people have applied for compensation from the fund, which has paid out amounts from $500 to $2.1m an applicant. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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