A recent study by American scientists found that men are seven times as likely to leave their seriously sick wives as women to dump over their sick husbands. Experts studied data about how 500 married couples dealt with the diagnosis of a life-endangering disease such as cancer.
Although the number of divorces was basically at the same level, there was a clear difference in the proportion of men and women who left their partner in the lurch with men doing it more often.
For example, of 23 divorces when a partner was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, husbands left their sick wives in 22 cases and only one wife walked out on her husband. Brain tumor separated 23 couples with 18 sick women being abandoned by their spouse. Similarly, women were left to fight cancer alone in 13 out of 14 divorces. 21 % of couples divorced when the woman was sick, while only 3% failed when the man was diagnosed with serious disease.
Some studies have already shown that men are less likely to care about their sick wives and undertake household chores compared with women. According to researchers from Washington University in Seattle, married woman is more likely to devote herself to caring about her sick husband. The study also found that divorced patients spent more time in hospital, took more antidepressants and were less likely to finish their drug treatment.
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