Do you own your own body? It seems a simple enough question. However, in today’s society not only do you not own your body, but others claim the right to tell you what you can and cannot do with it. Worse, they believe that they have the authority to tell you when a medical treatment is too dangerous . . . even if you’re dying. The state of Rhode Island wants to take a step towards fixing that.
In early March, the Rhode Island House passed H7266, titled “Neil Fachon Terminally Ill Patients’ Right To Try Act of 2020”. Right To Try laws are an attempt to overturn some of the most invasive, and in many cases ridiculous, rules about medical treatments for the terminally ill.
The legislature finds that access to and the use of experimental treatments for patients with terminal illness will provide persons with the fundamental right to control the decisions relating to their own medical care. In order to respect these rights the legislature declares that the laws of the state shall recognize experimental treatments for patients with terminal illness and establish conditions for the use of experimental treatments.
R.I. H7266, 23-95-2. Purpose
It is not the right to access experimental treatments that provide people with a fundamental right; your right to your body does not come from any government, regulation, or policy. If you own your body, you should be able to do with it whatever you want as long as you don’t infringe on the rights of others. The federal government, through the illegal Food and Drug Administration, has assumed the power not only to test drugs, but to determine whether you should be allowed to use them. As if that weren’t bad enough, imagine the chutzpah of telling someone who will die in a few months they cannot try a treatment because it may give them cancer in 20-30 years.
Nothing in the Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate food or drugs. I applaud those in the Rhode Island House for attempting to restore the rights and dignity of the citizens of their state. Make no mistake though, this legislation, in fact no act of government, can provide you with fundamental rights.
To summarize the legislation, it says that a terminally ill patient can receive an experimental drug or device for treatment. The manufacturer is not required to provide the drug and neither the patient’s insurance nor the government are required to pay for the treatment. Also, the manufacturer, doctor, or hospital cannot be held liable should the treatment kill the patient. While the legislature claims that access to experimental treatments somehow provides people with terminal illnesses the fundamental right to control decisions about their healthcare, they also claim the authority to limit that right to those they think are ‘sufficiently’ dying.
(2) “Investigational drug, biological product, or device” means a drug, biological product, or device that has successfully completed phase 1 of a clinical trial but has not yet been approved for general use by the Food and Drug Administration and remains under investigation in a Food and Drug Administration approved clinical trial.
R.I. H7266
Should this bill become law, terminally ill patients won’t be able to try just any experimental treatment. No, the legislation requires that the treatment has passed phase 1 of clinical trial and remains under investigation by the FDA.
In order to be eligible to receive an experimental treatment, the dying patient not only has to consider all other treatment options, receive a recommendation for the treatment, and the documentation that proves they meet the requirements of the law from their doctor. Isn’t it ironic that while claiming to provide a fundamental right, the state of Rhode Island still wants to control it? That the state will still require the terminally ill patient get their permission before trying something the federal government hasn’t approved?
While this bill would push back against federal overreach, it would be a very small push. This fundamental right to control your own decisions over medical care is not really protected by this legislation. Medical decisions are not made by you. They aren’t even made by your doctor or your insurance company. They are made by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. and your state house. These people who claim to work for the public are deciding what medical treatments they will allow and under what circumstances. Want to try a drug that has been used successfully in another country? Not without Big Brother’s approval. Want to try some non-traditional treatment? Better hope it has been properly approved. And like our English cousins, how long before the government will claim the authority to prevent us not only from getting a treatment here in the U.S., but going overseas for it?
Oh, by the way, why is it only terminally ill patients that have the right to try? Why can’t you and I try whatever treatment we’re willing to pay for? Have those in government assumed for themselves the authority to tell us what is best for us? Sure, we asked them to “make sure drugs are safe” (as if anyone could actually do that), but by acting like we’re children that need to be taken care of, we have created an overprotective and paternal government that thinks they have the authority to tell us what to do. I think it’s time we change that.
The American people should require the dismantling of the Food and Drug Administration. If you want your food and drugs tested for safety and efficacy, there are plenty of organizations that can do so without the bureaucracy, overhead, and corruption of having the government do it. Companies could submit their products to testing like we have appliances tested by United Laboratories, or other products reviewed by Consumer Reports. Doctors’ ethics boards could require them to only prescribe drugs that have been submitted to such testing, but ultimately leave the decision up to the patient. Even insurance companies could decide only to pay for tested prescriptions.
In short, the American people must learn to make decisions for themselves, accept the consequences of those decisions, and be willing to hold manufacturers accountable for defective products. On the other hand, if we want mama Washington to take care of us, we better be willing to be sent to our rooms without supper if we don’t do what we’re told. You cannot be taken care of and be a free people at the same time, because it’s not possible to be both ruled and free.
