I typed hibakusha as "被爆者" in "被爆者：食べ物はあまり持っていませんでした。", and someone hesitantly
suggested that I use kana.

Neither Wiktionary nor jisho.org suggest using kana.

Is there any linguistic or stylistic reason to use kana?

**Update** : The person actually said "被害者…かな？", which actually means
"higaisha, perhaps?", and isn't to do with hiragana/katakana versus kanji.
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kanji kana
Should hibakusha be written in kanji or kana?
Some Japanese words are often written in katakana when people want to
emphasize _X-as-an-international-word_ or _X-as-known-to-foreigners_ feelings.

  * [カイゼン](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/18529/5010)
  * [ニッポン](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/17799/5010)
  * ツナミ
  * ニンジャ, テンプラ, ゲイシャ, フジヤマ, ...

ヒバクシャ is occasionally the subject of this phenomenon (e.g. [**世界**
ヒバクシャ展](http://www.no-more-hibakusha.net), [**国際**
ヒバクシャ医療センター](http://www.hibakusha.jp/)), but in general, it's normally written
in kanji. Depending on what and to whom you write, you may choose to use
katakana.
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It could be because 被 and 爆 are not part of [Kyoiku
Kanji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Diku_kanji). Kyoiku Kanji are the
Kanji that are taught from 1st to 6th grade in Japanese elementary schools,
and represent the Kanji that "everyone is supposed to know".

On Japanese TV, when non-Kyoiku Kanji appears in subtitles it will usually
either have Furigana above the Kanji or be in Katakana. So depending on your
audience, it might be a good idea to include Furigana or Katakana.

You can see the Kyoiku Levels by searching for that word on [JDIC's kanji
lookup](http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1B). 被 and 爆 are both
level 8, meaning they aren't taught in primary school.
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