Here is a proposal that I think everyone, regardless of their political views, should be able to support: the right to try.
This proposal would allow terminally ill patients to try medicine or treatments that have been approved for safety, but not for efficacy, by the FDA. It's a sad fact that every year, untold numbers of people die and suffer due to the the FDA's time-consuming, and sometimes politically manipulated, process for approving medical treatments. They should have the right try treatments that might not work--but might save, or at least improve, their lives. It shouldn't be up to government bureaucrats to make these decisions for us. It's not smart, it's not efficient, and it's not compassionate.
As Christina Corieri writes,
Right to Try allows a patient to access investigational medications that have passed basic safety tests without interference by the government when the following conditions are met:
1.) The patient has been diagnosed with a terminal disease;
2.) the patient has considered all available treatment options;
3.) the patient’s doctor has recommended that the investigational drug, device, or biological product represents the patient’s best chance at survival;
4.) the patient or the patient’s guardian has provided informed consent; and
5.) the sponsoring company chooses to make the investigational drug available to patients outside the clinical trial.
For patients suffering from conditions for which there is no approved known cure, the FDA’s traditional role of protecting patients from drugs and devices that have not yet proven effective has little meaning. These medications have already been deemed safe enough to enlarge the group of patients involved in the clinical trial to several hundred or even several thousand individuals. The requirement for informed consent ensures that terminal patients considering this option are fully aware of the risks involved. Moreover, allowing earlier access to investigational medications with informed consent is supported by the medical community. Recent studies show that a clear majority of specialists, including neurologists, oncologists, orthopedic surgeons, and emergency-room doctors support making investigational drugs available prior to full FDA approval. Further, the Right to Try initiative allows the company producing the investigational medication or device to determine whether it will be made available. If a company does not wish to make a medication available due to lack of adequate inventory, fear of liability, or any other reason, the company is not compelled to do so. Furthermore, insurance companies are not compelled to provide coverage for investigational medications. Thus, Right to Try protects a patient’s right to medical autonomy without infringing on a company’s rights.
Sadly, one obstacle in this compassionate, common-sense limitation on government, is the D.C. Circuit's deplorable decision in the Abigail Alliance case, which held that people have no constitutional right to access potentially life-saving medical treatment that the government has chosen not to allow them. That decision was wrong, and demands to be overruled.
I wish the Goldwater Institute the best of luck in getting this reform passed.
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