House Democrats place bureaucracy above healing: derail experimental medicine 'Right to Try' bill

President Trump has been pushing for "Right to Try" legislation almost since his campaign began. The idea is that terminally ill patients, who've decided they have nothing to lose, should have the right to try experimental procedures and medication that may not be ready for mass implementation. Everyone understands that there are very real risks involved with this course of action but, if you've exhausted all other options, you may be ready for one last desperation play. ...Except currently, FDA restrictions won't let you.

---

So, the President and Mike Pence made easing those regulations a centerpiece of their White House run. Trump even reiterated his support during his first State of the Union address. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has pounded a stake through the idea. On March 13th, they killed a bill that would have done precisely why the President and VP wanted. From the NYT:

In a surprising rebuff to President Trump and Republican leaders, the House derailed a bill on Tuesday that would have given patients with terminal illnesses a right to try unproven experimental treatments. The bill was considered under special fast-track procedures that required a two-thirds majority for passage, and it fell short. When the roll was called, 259 House members supported the bill, and 140 opposed it.

You can bet "sticking it" to Trump and Pence played a role here, but there's a bigger issue at work. The majority of the opposition came from Democrats, who said the legislation would - get this - "endanger people dying of incurable diseases." Wait. That can't be right, can it?

---

---

Most of the opposition came from Democrats, who said the bill gave false hope to patients and could actually endanger people dying of incurable diseases, because it would undermine protections provided by the Food and Drug Administration. “By defeating this bill tonight, we protected patients and supported F.D.A.’s continued role in approving experimental treatments that may help save a patient’s life,” said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee. “This bill should have never been on the House floor in the first place since it was only introduced today.”

They don't give a damn about "endangering" the terminally ill. This is about swamp protection.

Ahhhh....there it is. As Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) puts it, the law would represent “a dangerous back door around the F.D.A. approval process.” They don't give a damn about "endangering" the terminally ill. This is about swamp protection. God forbid we expand access to experimental treatments, because that might undermine the FDA's absolute authority. I'm not sure how exactly it would do this, since a successful experimental treatment would then still have to go through FDA approval before a full-scale roll out, but that's the rationale. The real tragedy here is that, for both Democrats and some Republicans, the chance that you might survive a fatal illness is less important that propping up federal power. They're right that the hope these treatments offer might turn out to be false - but if you have no other option, you understand the risks involved, and you want to throw that Hail Mary pass, why shouldn't you be allowed to? How sick do you have to be to place more value on federal authority than a human life?

---