Today’s House Vote Could Help Give Terminally Ill Patients the Right to Try

March 13, 2018

Jordan McLinn was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was three. After five years of waiting, and decline in his health, Jordan got into a Phase I clinical trial. He’s one of 15 in a trial for a disease that affects about one in 3,500 children in the U.S.

Jordan is one of the lucky ones. But what about the millions of Americans with terminal illnesses who cannot participate in clinical trials?

Today the U.S. House answers the question. Today the House will vote on Right to Try legislation that protects the right of terminally ill Americans to try all possible treatment options before it’s too late.

The Goldwater Institute designed Right to Try and has been leading a national effort for both states and the federal government to adopt the laws. And we’ve had remarkable success. Since 2014, 38 states have adopted Right to Try laws, the U.S. Senate passed a Right to Try law unanimously last August, and President Trump called for the House to take up the legislation in his State of the Union.

Patients like Jordan, and Matt Bellina, and dozens of others have put a face on the real harm that red tape can do and the importance of passing Right to Try.

Freeing people to exercise their rights to try to save their own lives is no small thing. We know that dozens of patients who were treated under state Right to Try laws are alive today because of them. Read about David Curtis Glebe, Mark Angelo, Jim Burhorn and Marc I. Hayutin.

We’re proud to stand side by side with dozens of patient activist groups, hundreds of patients, and thousands of state lawmakers in support of patients’ Right to Try. You can read more about the laws here: http://righttotry.org/what-is-right-to-try/.