Cancer is a diseased state, but it is not incurable. Indications and methods of therapy have been standardized almost internationally. Early diagnosis leads to better rates of cure. Cancer presents as an individually characterized multiplicity of symptoms of the disease. Individualization is the real art of medicine. Truthful information, adjusted to the individual patient in each case, should be given at the right time. There should be no rush to make early statements of prognosis, especially statements of hopeless despair. No physician has the right to prolong the supravital and subhuman stage of dying. Absolute dominance of the physical time factor over the specifically human qualities and the patient's own individuality is not justified. The legal situation with regard to the gray area of passive euthanasia should be more clearly defined.