Nathanson, Bergman and Gordon studied one hundred consecutive cases of hemiplegia at Bellevue Hospital in New York and found a twenty-eight percent incidence of denial of illness. It is probably even higher, since rigid criteria were used and because the presence of global aphasia in some patients made the testing difficult. While occurring much more in those with left hemiplegia, it also was found with lesions of the 'dominant' hemisphere. The disorientation which occurs in these patients may be merely a part of the entire pattern of denial of illness, since the direction of error is usually toward a happier time or place in the patient's life.