Just great, Maine now has the "right" to have peoples' wallets cleaned out by quacks.

[Archae]

Laetrile, anyone?

Homeopathy?

Maine: New England’s 1st ‘right to try’ experimental drugs

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine is the first state in New England to give dying patients the right to use experimental drugs.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage signed legislation Wednesday that allows terminally ill patients to use treatments that have not received final approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The bill stipulates that doctors and drug companies wouldn’t be held liable for any harm; it does not require insurance companies to pay for the treatments, which will be available to patients expected to live less than six months.

http://wbay.com/ap/maine-new-englands-1st-right-to-try-experimental-drugs/

[HuckleB]

1. .

[LeftishBrit]

2. While that could well be an unintended consequence and a danger...

I think such legislation is intended for a different purpose: not for enabling woo-medicines, but for allowing people to try medical drugs that have undergone some testing, but not yet reached the final stage. Usually these would be medicines that have been shown to be relatively safe, and where there's some reason for thinking that the medicine might work, but where effectiveness has not been fully proved.

I'm divided on this. On the one hand, it could enable quacks and truly dodgy Pharma types (such as Wakefield!); on the other hand, if you're certain to die without treatment, maybe you should have the right to try medication that might work.

[drm604]

3. Yeah. I'm sitting on the same fence.

I understand and support the goal of protecting people from quacks, but I also don't feel right about stopping informed people who are dying from trying things that may actually help but haven't yet met legal standards.