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Every year, more than 60,000 Californians die of heart disease, the nation’s leading killer. Another 55,000 die of cancer, and more than 7,000 die of Alzheimer’s. But these are more than just statistics. These are our parents, siblings, relatives, and friends. For far too many, they run out of time waiting for a breakthrough drug or treatment.
Naomi,
Just amazing isn’t it. An adult with the aid of the most highly trained consultant in our society, a licensed physician, should not be allowed to make their own decisions. Meanwhile, Governor Moonbeam drags California further behind the eight ball with his lunatic super train and incredibly stupid water & energy policies.
We shouldn’t go around inventing new rights. However, with this level of callous stupidity pitted against the ordinary person there really is no other choice. I’m 100% for “The Right to Try”.
Regards,
Jim
What it means is that the terminally ill will have to go out of state if they want to try.
Thank you for covering an issue that the media likes to ignore. The Democrats’ opposition to over-the-counter birth control is another example. Governor Brown’s decisions are too predictable. End-of-life treatments cost a lot more than a bottle of horse tranquilizers, so Big Government is more than happy to help. Allowing the terminally ill to try experimental treatments not strictly regulated be the government, even at their own expense, would challenge the authority and efficacy of the regulatory regime and must be stopped, no matter how humane and reasonable. It is time for a ballot initiative.
But why? What interests are jerking his chain? I do not understand the opposition to this, but then I’d close the place down.
There is no logical reason why “Right to Try” should be limited to terminally ill patients.
It is a basic issue of freedom: We should be able to opt out of regulatory and legal remedies for tort, assume our own liability, and try anything we want.
I think at some level the government understands that this is a slippery slope. We are all going to die, after all – just on different timelines and trajectories. So if they allow “Right to Try” then it should, over time, threaten the entire raison d’etre for the FDA.
The title of Ramesh Ponnuru’s book comes to mind, “The Party of Death”
I try to be a loving, Christian person, but I detest Jerry Brown. I call him Governor Death.
It’s ironic that Marijuana legalization has made more gains around the country.
Could not a terminally ill or physically debilitated patient elect to use an experimental drug as his or her method to end their life? Could not an argument be made that even though I might die in discomfort and pain, that I would choose to prolong that condition to have more time with my loved ones or to pave a trail for effective treatment?
The challenge to dealing with death and debilitating illness is to us who are healthy. By allowing a right to die or denying those with catastrophic illness, we bail out on our humanity to minister to the dying and the severely ill. Giving people the choice to take untried and experimental medications and being with them through that process seems to be the more humane and life affirming act.
I struggle to understand this belief called progressivism.
And there you have it. Only the uber class of Big Gov bureaucrats are qualified or competent to make the decisions of how we live our lives. Micro-managing our lives is their obligation and their right.
Liberals in general prefer people to die (population control, abortion, legal drugs, euthanasia), than to live. Their whole ethos presents human beings as a blot on the planet, and the fewer of them around, the better. They should be required to go first.
Because fewer humans are better for the environement. Also, more for them.
To the left, there’s really no such thing as an adult, at least not how we think of one to be. No individual can be trusted to make decisions about his life over the declarations of a bureaucrat hundreds of miles away who they will never meet.
You nailed it.
the only thing I would change is “declarations of a bureaucrat” to “declarations of an expert”
The facts indicate that many people who try experimental treatments will still die of there disease. However, they should be given the opportunity to try, particularly before the disease process becomes so advanced they really have little chance at benefit. The experts think they know the risk/benefits for all, and simply refuse to see people as individuals with individual needs, preferences and tolerance for risk.