Used to be, politicians tried to hide their health problems. Remember JFK's rocking chair? And what presidential candidate had been treated for depression? And cried in public, clearly making him unsuitable to be the guy with his finger on the button?
(A digression--where are those nukes aimed, now that we no longer have the Soviets?)
And ordinary folks still try to keep their cancer histories quiet in the workplace, for fear that it will cost them raises and promotions, or even their jobs.
Then, we have this story from The Guardian about a local politician who lied about having testicular cancer. To be fair, he didn't lie about it to his constituency. Rather, it sounds like he was caught in a lie that he made up earlier when he resigned from a job where he was facing a disciplinary hearing.
The politician, Darren Gilbert, 22, has resigned.
Read the story: New Tory councillor resigns over allegations he lied about cancer
@ Jeanne Sather 2008.
The guns are trained on Iran.
I am in the middle of adopting a puppy. I am being very careful not to let the breeder know I have cancer....
Posted by: laurie | May 21, 2008 at 11:57 AM
Laurie--the breeder doesn't need to know, in my opinion. Bad enough that people with a cancer history can't adopt kids ...
Actually, before I took Connie, I discussed this issue with my therapist, because he will probably outlive me, but we decided that since I would find a new home for him if needed it was OK to adopt him.
Posted by: jeanne | May 21, 2008 at 07:14 PM