General Discussion To Hide An Illness

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Aug 12, 2013
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I was recently told about a mother of eight children getting cancer and hiding it. I don't know what her reasons were for hiding her illness, but I am sure that there were many. Anywho, her family didn't know that she was sick. So one time one of her children took her to the doctors to get checked out, and the doctor asked this woman how she was feeling and then made references to the cancer.

This was a shock to the child who then went and told the rest of the family. They finally concluded on the course of treatment that they were going to get for their mother, and she died two days later.

If I had been put in the position of the children. I know that I would be deeply hurt and resentful towards the person that hid their illness from me.

But on the other hand, I understand why one would hide an illness like that?

In your opinion, is it wrong to hide illness?
 
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Aug 10, 2013
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It hurts when an illness is hidden from you; I know because the same thing was done to me. I fully understand the reason for keeping it from me, but I would have handled the pending death easier if I had been given more time to process it. I don't even like talking about it or thinking about it. If I got sick, I'd make sure that those close to me would know what's going on.
 
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Oct 29, 2013
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I have children and it crossed my mind not to say anything to my kids if I got cancer or any other killer disease and that's out of love, l would not want my children upset for months waiting for me to die.
 
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Aug 10, 2013
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No, hiding a illness is totally acceptable, specially if you know you have a few months left to live and there is nothing you can do about it. Specially if you have a family that worries a lot about you, why make them feel even more worried? Life nowadays is super stressing already!

Plus, I'm sure most close relatives would want to force the person to get a treatment... if it's cancer a chemotherapy. Believe me, you don't want to go that way! Chemotheraphy makes things worse, and won't help you at all if your cancer has invaded most of your organs. So yes, in a situation like the one I just described the best thing to do is hiding it. That way if you die... you will die ''suddenly''. If you tell them you are dying a few months earlier... everyone will have a harder time dealing with that.
 
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This is unfortunate to say, but some people may opt to do this because they cannot afford the treatments and don't want to place that burden on the rest of the family. I wouldn't want my family members to go bankrupt trying to help me get treatments if I did not have adequate coverage.

I went in for some tests once with regards to seizures I was having, and it was on the last day of my insurance (I was in between jobs at the time). They ended up sending me into a grand mal seizure during the tests and kept me there for an additional two days, outside of my coverage, which cost me over $10,000 per day.
 
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Nov 24, 2013
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I feel that honesty should be a part of everyday life. One may not want to disclose an illness thinking it will go away, and why bother others with an additional preoccupation. However, if there are consequences, or if not able to get better, then the immediate family should be aware of it. It is worse to get such a shock.
 
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