Trump Signs "Right to Try"

While everyone was busy freaking out over Roseanne Barr, Trump signed a bill that allows terminally ill patients access to drugs still in clinical trials that have passed phase 1 of the FDA's approval process.

This was actually a pretty controversial bill, but personally, I'm glad he signed it. Those who oppose the bill state a list of things as reasons, such as the lack of knowledge on how to administer the drugs, giving the patient a "false sense of hope," lack of knowledge of side effects, and that it cuts the FDA out of the mix, cutting doctors off from this knowledge. 

Several states already have right to try - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wyoming - but by signing this, Trump has made it national. 

Why do I support it? Well, let's take a look at who this effects. The people gaining access are terminally ill patients. If I was terminally ill, I would want to try everything I could. These people aren't stupid. They understand the risks. They know it could make them sick, or it might not work, or the doctors might struggle with the dosage. But they also know that the information gained from their usage of it will greatly help the doctors and future patients. Besides, it might work. It can't hurt to try. What's the worst that could happen, they die? They're terminal. 

When my father was sick, because I had to get a Senator involved, the VA actually did this with him. He was given treatments under our state's "right to try." Dad's cancer was a terminal diagnosis. We knew that. My dad knew that. And we knew these treatments most likely wouldn't do much for him. And they didn't. But we tried anyway. The hope was there that something might restore - to some extent - his mental capacity so he could live a little more normally in his final days. Maybe it would buy him a few more years. Maybe it would stabilize him enough to be able to have conversations with other patients at the hospitals or something, just to make it more bearable for him. 

Like I said, it didn't work for him. But the doctors had new data to add to the pile about administering the drug, side effects, effects on his particular stage of the cancer and his particular variety of the cancer. And we tried. We literally let them try whatever they had on my dad. Because really, it couldn't hurt. His diagnosis was grim, but we at least tried to make him comfortable and less miserable, and we hoped to get his life expectancy from 1 -3 years up to 5 - 7 years. We tried. 

My dad was on board for a lot of reasons. Obviously, he didn't want to die. But he was also on board because he knew other Veterans around him were going through it, too, and more would follow, and he wanted to help them if he could. And my dad was a scientist (chemist), so he would do anything in the name of science. 

So I'm on board. I'd want the option if it were me. A lot of us would. At the end of your life, when you've tried everything else, it really can't hurt. Side effects don't really matter at that point, they can't be much worse than what you're already going through. And since the end is near anyway, if it doesn't work, nothing much changes... but at least you tried. At least you went out fighting. Your family can rest a little easier knowing they did literally everything they could. I don't see that as a bad thing. 

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