It was not uncommon in the recent past for physicians
to keep secret the real disease that had a hold on their patients. As
recent as the 1950's and 1960's speaking publicly of such things as
breast cancer and cervical cancer were strictly taboo. This applied
equally to celebrities and common folk.
Eva Peron, the wife of the Argentina President Juan
Domingo Peron, was never told she had cervical cancer!
When Eva Peron called out, “Don’t cry for me,
Argentina” she had no idea how sick she was.
Eva Peron, whose life was the subject of both a Broadway show and a
Hollywood movie, died in July 1952 of cervical cancer. She never knew of
her diagnosis. In fact things were kept such a secret at the time that
she was not even told who her surgeon was.
An article by Dr. Barron H. Lerner of Columbia College of Physicians and
Surgeons, New York, NY, offers a historical review of the treatment that
Eva received which was in most respects standard for the time. His
article is published in the June 3rd issue of The Lancet.
Dr. Lerner describes Argentina’s First Lady as dynamic and powerful
and although she had numerous detractors, her charitable efforts on
behalf of the poor “or shirtless ones” inspired fierce devotion.
Eva's symptoms began when she was 30 years old in 1950. She felt weak,
experienced abdominal pain and fainted several times. Her doctor
mistakenly performed an appendectomy but her condition worsened. Doctors
in Argentina finally diagnosed Eva with advanced cervical cancer.
Secrecy surrounded both Eva’s illness and her treatment.
“In the 1950s, physicians and families often concealed cancer
diagnoses from patients,” writes Dr. Lerner. “Eva was no exception.
When she died in July 1952, she had never been told her diagnosis.”
Coincidentally, Juan Peron’s first wife also died from cervical
cancer.
At the request of Argentina President Juan Domingo Peron and Eva's
Argentine oncologist, an oncologist from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center, New York, NY, was brought in to treat her cervical cancer. Dr.
George T. Pack performed surgery on Eva Peron in November of 1951. Eva
thought Dr. Ricardo Finochietto of Argentina performed the surgery. Dr.
Pack entered the operating room only after Eva was sedated and then
performed a hysterectomy and lymph node dissection.
Eva received additional radiotherapy after surgery but by February 1952,
the abdominal pains had returned and a repeat biopsy confirmed recurrent
pelvic cancer.
Dr. Lerner explains that there were several reasons for such secrecy.
During the 1950s, patients frequently were not told what they were
suffering from. Eva Peron’s fame also influenced how her case was
handled. There were likely also political considerations. Dr. Pack kept
his involvement a secret, though the US State Department had been kept
informed and in fact had encouraged Dr. Pack to perform the surgery.
The late diagnosis the former First Lady received was par for the course
for that era. Although the Pap smear had been used to detect cervical
abnormalities beginning in the 1940s, it was not widely used. According
to the Pan American Organization, doctors in Argentina performed only
100,000 Pap smears annually by 1962. By the 1970s, widespread use of the
Pap smear reduced the death rate from cervical cancer in the US by more
than 50%.
Argentina was not the only country where doctors did not tell patients
about their diagnoses. Dr. Lerner cited a survey from the 1950s that
found that only 10% of doctors in the United States said they would tell
patients the truth about their conditions.
