Court Rules Terminally Ill Have Constitutional Right To Nonapproved Experimental Drugs

From the Washington Post:

Terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to obtain experimental drugs before the Food and Drug Administration has decided whether to approve them, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

Saying that dying patients have a basic "right of self-preservation," the court held that drugs that have passed the first phase of FDA review -- which determines whether a product is safe -- should be made available if they might save someone's life.

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