“Firefighter’s Widow to Get Death Benefits,” The New York Times, November 23rd:
Since her firefighter husband died of a heart attack nearly four years ago after responding to an emergency, Kathleen Shea has not received any death benefits, despite a 2003 federal law that indicated she was entitled to them.
But this week she learned that in a reversal, the Department of Justice had determined that she was entitled to benefits under the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act. The law extends federal benefits to the survivors of firefighters, police officers and other first responders who die of heart attacks or strokes while on duty.
Ms. Shea lives in Elsmere, N.Y., southwest of Albany, where her husband served as the volunteer fire chief.
The Department of Justice had denied benefits to Ms. Shea and scores of other families around the country, arguing that language in the law indicated they were ineligible because their family members died during routine activities.
But Senator Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who sponsored the original legislation introduced by Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, helped Ms. Shea and other families appeal the decisions because he said responding to an emergency was “inherently nonroutine.”
So far, all four appeals have resulted in benefits for families, but nearly 40 more families still have to go through the process.