Wife Suspects Husband Faked 4-Year Terminal Diagnosis to Stop Divorce

2 articles · Updated · Slate · May 14

Six months after shelving a divorce, a wife says she now doubts her husband’s claim that a doctor gave him about 4 years to live with a terminal neurological disease.
No follow-up visits, no visible symptoms and no financial record of the supposedly life-changing appointment drove her suspicion that the diagnosis was fabricated.
The husband disclosed the illness about 2 weeks after she told him she planned to end their 11-year marriage, which she says had already been strained by mutual infidelity and emotional distance.
Slate’s Dear Prudence advised her to demand proof through an in-person doctor visit or proceed with divorce anyway, framing the alleged illness as having no evident impact on his life.
The column also widened the focus beyond the suspected deception, urging her not to give up custody of her older daughter while caring for a younger child with nonverbal autism.

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