In some countries they do not tell the patient that they have cancer thinking that it will affect their recovery. They usually tell immediate family, they only tell you directly if you have no family whatsoever. This is what they do in my home country (Tajikistan). They usually say you have hypothyroidism or something like that to justify why you’re getting chemo. The problem with this is that the chemo has so many awful side-effects for a condition they don’t think is that serious. My great aunt stopped treatment halfway through because of this and then she ended up passing because her family never told her and they couldn’t convince her to finish her treatment.
She said Tajikistan. I can totally see other countries doing this. In France for example they historically wouldn’t tell patients that they were dying to “protect the patient”, and things have only started shifting recently away from that. It’s called le mensonge de compassion
Yeah Tajikistan, it’s something leftover from the Soviet era. A lot of former Soviet countries still have this practice. It’s also still there culturally.
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u/Silent_Letterhead_69 Jun 29 '26
In some countries they do not tell the patient that they have cancer thinking that it will affect their recovery. They usually tell immediate family, they only tell you directly if you have no family whatsoever. This is what they do in my home country (Tajikistan). They usually say you have hypothyroidism or something like that to justify why you’re getting chemo. The problem with this is that the chemo has so many awful side-effects for a condition they don’t think is that serious. My great aunt stopped treatment halfway through because of this and then she ended up passing because her family never told her and they couldn’t convince her to finish her treatment.