A child for young cancer patients
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.The Appointments Service and Supply Act (TSVG) will come into force in mid-May 2019. Behind the awkward name lies the chance for thousands of young cancer patients to become mothers or fathers despite their illness.
Because chemotherapy or radiation therapy not only damage the tumor cells, they can also affect the ovaries and testes and thus destroy the dream of parenting. Fertility-preserving measures, such as the removal and freezing of eggs or sperm, are available, but are expensive. Hoping for a child of their own can cost up to 4,300 euros.
"Chances of having your own children taken"
"Many young cancer patients were deprived of the chance to have their own children because they or their families simply didn't have the money," explains Charité doctor Prof. Diana Lüftner from the German Foundation for Young Adults with Cancer. With the entry into force of the Appointment Service and Supply Act, this injustice will finally be eliminated.
The change means that the costs for the cryopreservation of egg and sperm cells as well as germ cell tissue will be covered by the statutory health insurance companies if young patients have to undergo germ cell damaging therapy.
Women up to 40, men up to 50
The revised Section 27a Paragraph 4 SGB V enables fertility maintenance for girls and women up to the age of 40 and for boys and men up to the age of 50. The law does not provide for a lower age limit.
This means that the law basically affects around 11,000 girls and women as well as 22,000 boys and men who, according to the Center for Cancer Registry Data, develop cancer annually in Germany. 80 percent of them survive the disease today. However, not all of them need fertility-preserving measures because gentler treatment is possible.
"The previous legal situation discriminated against us and, in addition to our cancer, we were afflicted with the stigma of involuntary childlessness," says Veronika, who is an affected person in the foundation for young cancer patients. Last year she had eggs removed at her own expense and then frozen. "I am incredibly happy that young cancer patients experience relief, appreciation and justice."
Of course, this is not yet a guarantee of parenthood. Recovered young cancer patients who have been able to freeze their germ cells have to resort to artificial insemination. The assumption of the costs for this is still unclear.
Years of preparatory work
The main initiators of the law change are the German Foundation for Young Adults with Cancer and the German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology e. V. You have repeatedly and clearly criticized the discrimination against young cancer patients in recent years and have taken the initiative for the amendment to the law that has come into force - in close cooperation with young patients.
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