Discussion»Questions»Communication» If someone asked you never to reveal something to anyone else and then that person passed away, are you still bound to the request?
Well, I would generally expect that I would honor that request---but it does depend on the circumstances.
For example, if a friend (male or female) told me that they had had an affair, I see no good reason to tell that to the surviving spouse---unless perhaps the surviving spouse were dying undiagnosed in a hospital with a disease that he or she may have contracted as a result of the affair. (And I have become aware of some really unusual infections after having watched a number of episodes of Mystery Diagnosis on cable.)
---a situation less likely to occur than Trump being later declared the winner of each and every state in the recent election.
I'm in general agreement with you, but even if a spouse has been diagnosed with some dread disease because of infidelity, what good would it do to tell that person that was the reason? How would it alter the outcome?
To say that someone is dying is not an automatic death sentence. With such additional information, the attending doctor may seek other tests and be able to save the person's life.
People who are deceased may sometimes leave behind a ' residual force' known as a ghost. Would anyone want to risk being haunted by the deceased person's ghostly apparitions if they dare expose that person's most personal private secrets?
I'd be willing to risk that theoretically, but I've never been in that position and probably never will be.
As an aside, obtaining promises from relatives and friends about their doing what a dying person requests is unethical manipulation (for which the person dying may be forgiven easily) and has no binding force in my opinion.