Bundesrat calls for a “right to be forgotten” for former cancer patients
Cancer survivors should no longer have to disclose their illness after medically justified periods – for example for insurance and loans. The federal states are calling for a law.
Symbolic image · Photo: Photo: Andreas Praefcke / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's Bundesrat on Friday passed a resolution calling for a “right to be forgotten” after surviving cancer. Those affected should no longer have to disclose a previous illness once medically justified periods have expired, particularly for insurance and credit contracts and for adoptions. Data already held should no longer be used once the period has passed. The chamber of the federal states calls on the federal government to draft legislation.
The initiative is backed among others by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's premier Manuela Schwesig (SPD). “When cancer patients have completed therapy and have been cancer-free for many years, there must be a right for this cancer to be forgotten,” she said, according to ZDFheute. According to ZDFheute, France, Belgium and Spain already have similar rules.
The insurance industry warns against short or blanket periods. The federal government must respond to the resolution but is not bound by the proposal. According to the states, suitable special rules should apply to cancer registries.