What is life worth? - Kenneth R Feinberg

As head of the 9/11 victim compensation fund, Kenneth Feinberg was asked to do the impossible: calculate the dollar value of over 5,000 people killed and injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks Just days after September 11th 2001, Kenneth Feinberg was appointed to administer the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, a unique, unprecedented fund established by the US Congress to compensate families who lost a loved one on 9/11 and survivors who were physically injured in the attacks. Those who participated in the fund were required to waive their right to sue the airlines involved in the attacks, as well as other potentially responsible entities. When the programme was launched, many families criticized it as a brazen, tight-fisted attempt to protect the airlines from lawsuits. The Fund was also attacked as attempting to put insulting dollar values on the lives of lost loved ones. The families were in pain. And they were angry. Over the course of the next three years, Feinberg spent almost all of his time meeting the families, convincing them of the generosity and compassion of the programme and calculating appropriate awards for each and every claim.;The Fund proved to be a dramatic success with over 97 per cent of eligible families participating. It also provided important lessons for Feinberg who became the filter, the arbitrator and the target of family suffering. Feinberg learned about the enduring power of family grief, love, fear, faith, frustration and courage. Most importantly, he learned that no cheque, no matter how large could make the families and victims of 9/11 whole again.