Right to be forgotten oncology: “I am not my tumor”

Who has a tumor patient in the family or next to him, or whoever he is, he knows: the last thing he wants is to be identified with his illness. The disease is already taking away his health, it cannot deprive him of his identity as well. Who was he before the tumor arrived, of course, but also the possibility of becoming a new person, perhaps a better one.

What often happens, however, is an already disabling disease on a physical and psychological level, which also takes away opportunity to be “normal”: really with a tumor you can’t talk about anything else, can’t you dream of a life together with those you love, can’t you look for another job?

In the name of all this, a collection of signatures has been launched in favor of one law that also regulates in Italy the Right to oncological oblivion. The campaign is titled «I’m not my tumor “is promoted by AIOM Foundation together with AIOM and to the patient associations IncontraDonna, aBRCAdabra and APAIM, to which AIL – Italian Association of Leukemia, Lymphomas and Myelomas, SIE – Italian Society of Hematology and AIEOP – Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology have also been added, and to support it, a signature on the www portal is enough. rightallobliotumori.org.

Already signed by tens of thousands of people, the aim of the project is precisely to obtain the law for the right to oncological oblivion, which would allow people cured of cancer to no longer having to declare the disease during the stipulation of employment contracts, the request for mortgages, the adoption of a child. Today, in fact, it is still necessary to communicate if you have been treated for a neoplasm, an obligation that often leads to suffering social discrimination.

“There is a lot of interest on the part of people in this law – he says Giordano Berettapresident of the AIOM Foundation – In Italy, today, they live 3.6 million citizens diagnosed with cancer and around 1 million recovered. For them we want to commit ourselves to obtaining the approval of the standard.

To leave their names are both former patients who have experienced bureaucratic obstacles, patients worried about their future after the disease, family members of people affected by cancer and citizens aware that a battle like this must be fought by joining forces, because it really concerns all, with or without cancer “.

The goal of the initiative is the reaching 100,000 signatures, which will be brought to the Prime Minister to ask for the approval of the law. Today, in Europe, five countries have already issued the norm for the right to be forgotten oncology: France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Portugal.

“We ask that Italy follow the example of the virtuous European countries that in the last two years have been concerned with guaranteeing former patients the right not to experience the disease as one social stigma – underlines Beretta -. We want to find the consensus of the political forces, because this is an important issue that can no longer be ignored. With the law for the right to be forgotten, people would no longer be considered sick after 5 years from the end of the treatment if the malignancy was diagnosed in pediatric age And after 10 in case it arose in adulthood. The innovation of therapies allows today to cure many tumors. Many others can be chronic and guarantee a long and quality life.

Source: Vanity Fair

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