Françoise Meunier: I want to share the experience of Daan, a cancer survivor from Belgium
Françoise Meunier shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Today, I want to share the experience of Daan, a cancer survivor from Belgium who was diagnosed with testicular cancer five years ago. When buying an apartment 3 of years ago, he was asked to pay 50% more for a life insurance than if he hadn’t had cancer. At the time, Daan could not have benefited from the right to be forgotten.
Today, he is thinking about buying a new property and our conversation allowed him to find out that he could benefit from the law already now. The cancer he suffered from indeed benefits from specific conditions as part of the exception grid developed in Belgium (you will find the list here.). This grid indeed provides shorter waiting periods for certain types of cancers, such as stage one testicular cancer, which is applicable in Daan’s case. Due to this list of exceptions, Daan does not need to wait eight years before benefiting from the right to be forgotten, but only three years since the end of treatment, which have now passed for him.
The story of Daan showcases the importance of the grid of exceptions when approving the law against financial discrimination against cancer survivors. It also demonstrates the need to provide better access to information to cancer survivors. They ought to know about their rights, which can truly make a difference to their lives.”
Proceed to the video.
Source: Françoise Meunier/LinkedIn
Françoise Meunier dedicated her professional life to improving the survival and QoL of cancer patients. Prof. Meunier served as Director-General of the European organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (1991-2015), where she remained active until 2018 as Director of Special Projects, being the driving force behind cancer survivorship activities. Since 2014, she has been pursuing activities on the Right to be Forgotten for cancer survivors, advocating for the creation of a harmonised legal framework to tackle discrimination against cancer survivors.
Prior to joining the EORTC, Françoise Meunier was Head of Infectious Diseases Department at Institute Jules Bordet. Prof. Meunier was awarded the Belgian Laureate Prix Femmes d’Europe 2004-2005, conferred the title of Baroness by His Majesty, King Albert II of Belgium in 2007, received the Pezcoller Foundation award in 2009, became a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences in 2011.
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Also joined the Scientific Committee of the Innovative Medicine Initiative of the European Union in 2012, received the ECCO Life time achievement award in 2013, awarded a Ben de Pauw Medal for her dedication to Medical Mycology in 2013, appointed council member of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine in 2014, appointed Chair of Accreditation Council of Oncology in Europe and Member of Alliance for Biomedical Research in Europe in 2015, and has been a member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine since 2006.
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