History Main / FeigningHealthiness

* Discussed in the ''ComicBook/{{Futurama}}'' comic "A Cure for the Common Clod"-- Fry has an alien disease similar to a cold, but his friends wonder if he's PlayingSick. Zoidberg then notes that usually, his patients pretend ''not'' to be sick.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWomanBlackAndGold'': When Cathy Perkins reunites with Diana she's dying of cancer, but acting like she's fine. She was at the time using magic to give herself more time, but this did not heal her and merely slowed the spread of the disease.

* ''Literature/Angelina/Ballerina'': Angelina comes down sick before the tryouts in ''Angelina and the Princess.'' Her mother tells her she shouldn't go in to class, but she sneaks out and goes to the tryouts anyways—where she is so dizzy with illness she ends up passing out and only gets a minor role.

In ''Fanfic/DenTaePhobia'' Tae-Young pretends he doesn't have any tooth aches out of fear of having to go to the dentist.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' episode "All's Well That Pretends Well", Angelica has a cold, but she pretends to be healthy so she doesn't have to miss out on a Dummi Bears performance. She tries to make it look like the babies are sick by using a feather duster, but she ends up giving herself away by [[SneezeOfDoom accidentally making herself sneeze]]. However, she gets to see the performance anyway when it's shown on TV.

TruthInTelevision for workers without sick days and employees who cannot afford to take days off. As well, people in high-pressure industries or sectors (law firm, software developer, pop star) may face intense pressure to come to work even if they feel sick.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This is ''very'' much TruthInTelevision - see WorkingThroughTheCold. Sometimes, workplace or academic pressure is just ''that'' bad. Combine this with a lack of sick days (and the high costs of medical care for people who live in the US) and you got this trope.
* Animals instinctively hide their sickness to prevent themselves from becoming a favored target of predators looking for an easier meal. While this helps in the wild, it only brings trouble for domesticated animals, who are hiding their sickness from their owners who can help them recover.
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