What's the worst (or most difficult) news that you've had to "break" to someone? Also, what's the worst news that you had received?

After a friend hung himself, I had to make some calls telling people their friend had died.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic

I agree…telling people that a friend/family member has died is really hard, especially under those circumstances. : /

I had to tell some family members in hospice that their father and husband passed away. That was difficult.

Mine are both the same. When I was pregnant and found out my son had an untreatable medical condition and wouldn’t survive long after birth. That was the worst news i have ever received and it is the worst news I have ever had to pass along.

The worst news to tell was to a live-in SO that I was leaving him for someone else. He was quite a bit younger than me, I was his first live-in/steady/longest term gf and it didn’t go well.

The worst news told to me was that a relative wouldn’t live through the night and try as I did, I couldn’t re book my flight to get to them in time to be with them as they expired, as they had wished.

I had to tell my husband of 21 years that “the door to my heart is closed” and that our relationship was coming to an end, then I had to tell our kids.

I think the worst thing told to me was that my parents were divorcing, because it was one of only a handful of times I’ve ever seen my dad cry. The worst thing I had to tell was when people asked me how school was going and I had to admit to people I barely knew I had dropped out of a prestigious university.

Telling my girlfriend that she will have to be extradited (with the possibility of spending months in custody) in order to prove her innocence. She is falsely accused of commiting a crime that never even happened.

The worst news I received was, after my daughter was born with a tumor, that the operation to remove it could possibly kill her. The way they put it was “it’s a good idea to have this operation as soon as possible so that you don’t get attached to the child that much, and if she dies you can just have another one”.

A friend was decapitated in an accident and I had to id his body and had to tell his mother that his belongings was stolen at the accident site and that his head was still missing.

@Jack79 My God!!! I can’t imagine a medical facility being so heartless & tactless. I’m so sorry.

@antimatter Noooooooooooo

That’s what happens daily in African medical facilities.

I’ve had to tell lots of families that their loved one had died, or was about to die, or has a terminal illness. That is never easy.

@antimatter Remind me to never go there!

In South Africa there was a scandal where undertakers were selling body parts to witch docters, my friend’s head was recovered a day later, and than I had to see his family again.

The second time was even worse.

My friends death was the worst news ever.

@antimatter Yeow!!! Are you still there?

I am here. This happened in 1996, it took me a long time to get over it.

@antimatter Well, I’d say STAY WELL!!!

Thanks I am logging out

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Both happened when my ex sister-in-law called to tell me that my ex had died… our son had just started 2nd grade. He was standing right beside me, and I knew it was going to break his heart.

I have also had to inform parents that their child is hearing impaired or deaf, and while it isn’t as bad as diagnosing a terminal illness, it is still heartbreaking for the parents to learn that little their angel isn’t perfect.

I have also had to perform Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response testing on children to confirm brain death. Fortunately, it was not my job to inform the family, but it still was very hard for me to handle.

During a break in service between the Army and Air Force, I worked as a detention officer in a jail for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and I had to tell an inmate one day that his mother had been killed in a house fire. That was both sad and difficult.

The worst news I’ve ever received is when a doctor told my family and I that my father had contracted Prostate Cancer and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. When I found out, I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach repeatedly.

Hearing the words, “your Dad is gone”; and then having to tell my brother that same thing.

The hardest thing I’ve done is breaking up with my boyfriend after I had graduated high school. Part of what made it so difficult is that he is one of the most emotionally damaged people I have ever known.

The worst news I have ever gotten is when I heard my uncle was on his deathbed. He was very young when he died, around my mom’s age, and he died a very lonely man.

Having to wake my mum up to tell her that her older sister passed away (cancer, so it wasn’t a big surprise, but still…)