The Long Island congresswoman suing more than 70 companies for potentially causing her to develop lung cancer from asbestos admitted under oath she doesn’t suffer from mesothelioma or asbestosis that are caused by asbestos inhalation, according to a witness at her deposition.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy’s medical history pokes another hole in the bizarre class-action lawsuit filed on her behalf last month by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s personal-injury law firm, Weitz & Luxemberg. The suit also fails to mention that McCarthy smoked heavily for 40 years and never worked directly with the cancer-causing substance.
“In addition to her being a lifelong smoker of cigarettes, both of her parents, her siblings, and husband all smoked around her,” a defense attorney at the discovery deposition in Uniondale, LI, told the Post.
“So she experienced a significant amount of secondhand smoke.”
McCarthy, 69, claims contact with asbestos through her father and brothers, boilermakers in Navy Yards and powerhouses, who brought the carcinogen home in clothing fibers.
The 16-year Democratic congresswoman, announced in June she was taking medical leave for a “treatable form of cancer.”
“While we disagree with several of the assumptions in your question, we cannot comment on cases in active litigation,” her attorney said.