Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced that by June the government will launch a law on the so-called “oncological oblivion”. It is a measure that abolishes the obligation to declare having been sick with cancer when signing contracts. A measure that aims at prevent discrimination to the detriment of those who have suffered from these serious pathologies and which is already a reality in other EU countries. A “bipartisan” bill has also been presented in Italy to introduce oncological oblivion.
Sanchez, after a meeting with patient associations, undertook to promote a law that «Declares null and void all provisions based on a history of cancer which exclude or discriminate in the contracting of products or services” or which “will prevent the insured’s oncological antecedents from being taken into consideration in imposing more onerous conditions in insurance contracts”.
Sanchez thanked all the oncological associations, all the institutions and the thousands of people who have committed themselves to making the right to be forgotten oncology become a reality. “It doesn’t make sense that, after suffering a serious illness, one should be penalized with more onerous conditions», said the premier.
But what is oncological oblivion? It is the right of a patient recovered from a tumor of do not provide information about his illness. In fact, there are circumstances in which this information is strictly requested: in an interview of work, when signing a contract for a mortgage or insurance. Having been ill with cancer often results in an additional load of economic, social but also psychological suffering for the patient.
Some countries have already included this right in their legal systems. This is the case for example of the France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg. Here banks and insurance companies cannot ask for information on the previous pathologies of their customers, provided that a certain amount of time has passed since the recovery. A resolution passed byEuropean Parliament in February 2022 recommends all Member States to adopt rules on oncological oblivion.
Where are we in Italy? A bill to this effect has been filed in the Senate at the end of the past legislature. Among the signatories Maria Elena Boschi for Italia Viva. Lorenzo Guerini for the Pd, Cristina Rossello of Forza Italia. The text calls for «the right of people who have been affected by oncological pathology a not be discriminated against in accessing the adoption of minors and banking and insurance services” when they have expired ten years without relapses. The text has not lapsed but is not currently scheduled by the justice commission.