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| "Hi. I'm Lord Maurice Saatchi, and I'm trying to help quacks." |
The other day, I wrote an
open letter to members of the various state legislatures in the United States about so-called "right to try" laws. These laws purport to make it easier for terminally ill patients to seek out and obtain treatment with experimental drugs. The reality is that the laws leave patients in the lurch. State right to try laws simply create false hopes for patients and leave them to take on incredible risks while giving up some of their rights to legal redress. So far, five states have passed right to try laws without any serious critique by legislators. To some degree, I don't blame them. Who wants to deny a patient the right to try anything to prolong their life? Yet those legislators who pass these laws are being far more cruel than any who vote these laws down.
But if you think state right to try laws in the United States are bad, take a look at the United Kingdom's
Medical Innovation Bill (
HL Bill 48 [full text]), also known as the Saatchi Bill, after its sponsor,
Lord Maurice Saatchi. As with right to try laws, the intent of the Saatchi Bill is well-meaning, but the end result is likely to be far more harmful for patients than imagined by the bill's supporters.
