Week in Review: Navy Pilot says, “I have been given a gift."

February 9, 2019

Navy Pilot: “I have been given a gift.”

Former U.S. Navy pilot Matt Bellina lives with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and since the time of his diagnosis in 2014, he had exhausted the treatment options available to him.

But this week, Matt shared with the world some incredible news. The married father of three began undergoing investigational treatment for ALS under the federal Right to Try law, a policy created by the Goldwater Institute that was signed into law last year. The law was based on the conviction that terminally ill patients should have the ability to try to save their own lives without seeking consent from the government. Matt posted the following on his Facebook page: 

“Only one month after my first round of treatment I have improvement in the clinical strength of my right deltoid and my left bicep. My forced vital lung capacity is 23% higher and I am seeing subjective improvement in my speech and swallowing. I no longer need a bi pap at night. Due to increased core strength and coordination I am now able to pull myself up to standing. Because this is an investigational therapy we don’t know what tomorrow will bring but for now we are feeling incredibly blessed.”

Read more about Matt’s good news here. 

How City Courts Keep the Poor Behind Bars

Here’s your dilemma: You get arrested for some “heinous” crime, something like spitting on the sidewalk or failing to return a library book. The judge thinks there is a high risk that you might spit again, or cling to that volume of city property, or commit some other crime like smoking in a restricted area or littering. So he imposes bail of a few hundred dollars just to make sure you don’t skip town. You are poor, too poor to even raise that minimal sum.

What happens next? 

Goldwater Institute national investigative journalist Mark Flatten reports on this story on our In Defense of Libertyblog.

Paycheck Fairness Act Ignores Women’s Preferences and Needs

Last week, Democratic lawmakers reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which they claim would protect women from pay discrimination in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Actsounds good, but “equal pay for equal work” is already the law—and has been for over 50 years.

What’s left for the Paycheck Fairness Act? Goldwater Institute executive vice president Christina Sandefur explains in a new article on the In Defense of Libertyblog.