All children deserve to know the truth

doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7282.366/b

BMJ 2001;322:366 ( 10 February )

Letters

All children deserve to know the truth

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Keeley's editorial on telling children about a parent's cancer struck an instant chord with me, perhaps an indicationof how decisions made by an adult affect a child's life.¹

I was 16 when my father died, of cerebral metastases from lung cancer. Over the six months that his physical and mental statedeteriorated, the only explanation I was ever given was from thecommunity nurse as he was whisked away in yet another ambulance:"Daddy's got a nasty pain in his tummy, and the doctors are goingto make him better." At the time I was studying for a selectionof O levels, with the intention of applying to medical school.I reasoned for this entire period that if it was something asserious as cancer, someone would tell me. No one did, thereforethings had to be all right.

A child's belief in their parent's immortality cannot be . . . [Full text of this article]