Initiative in the Federal Council for a “right to be forgotten” after cancer

Having recovered from cancer should no longer put people at a disadvantage when it comes to insurance, loans or adoption. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Bremen and Lower Saxony want to create a legal “right to be forgotten”.

It's about "forgetting an illness," said the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig (SPD), in the Federal Council. Schwesig, who survived breast cancer herself, made her illness public in 2019.

Thuringia has joined the initiative. On Friday, the Federal Council referred the initiative to several committees for further discussion. According to the proposal, cancer sufferers should no longer have to disclose their previous cancer after medically justified deadlines have expired. Information that has already been saved should then be deleted. How long these periods should be should depend, among other things, on the status of research and the risk of relapse.

Schwesig also referred to her own cancer in the Federal Council. “Not always, but many people experience what I personally experienced, that you can get cancer, overcome cancer and get well again.” Nevertheless, an earlier illness can still have disadvantages later, says Schwesig. Younger people who still have their whole lives ahead of them are particularly affected.