serf 3 days ago

>If I had 6 months to live, and had no other options, I wouldn't care if a drug killed me in 10 days. Give me the option.

you're not being creative enough.

I agree with compassionate use cases, but be creative here : some drugs can create deaths much more miserable than the controlled burn of a 6 month descent into hospice care surrounded by family and loved ones.

6 months to live versus a possible supportive drug regiment with the side effects being constant pain until you slowly bleed out through your eyes after total sensory lock-in -- easy a choice to make? not for me.

BobaFloutist 2 days ago

Fine, what if the drug causes a violent psychotic break and you harm your loved ones?

What if some weird interaction sensitizes your nerves, and you spend your last weeks in incredible pain, begging to die? Not only would that suck for you, it would, again, affect your loved ones. It would also cause distress to the nurses that cared for you and the doctor(s) that administered it to you; remember, they don't just have to convince you, they have to convince medical professionals that this wouldn't be violating their code of ethics.

dylan604 3 days ago

bigPharma doesn't care about that. They care about the publicity of their drug killing someone faster than the cancer.

  • ineedaj0b 3 days ago

    No. No no no.

    Big Pharma needs good data. And they have annoying FDAs/whatever-regulations-body slowing them down.

    If you have a serious disease they might not mind you taking it. But if you have a serious disease plus your kidneys have already shutdown - w/e drug won’t save you. The death counts as a negative. “Let me take it anyway” well fine but it’s not some huge conspiracy.

WJW 3 days ago

It's not just those two choices though. It could be "6 months in relative comfort" and "10 days begging each minute to die but you can't because you're borderline unconscious". Or anything in between. Just saying.

Medical guidelines are there for a reason and are often, as they say in the military, "written in blood".

  • investinwaffles 3 days ago

    Having seen the last ten days of pancreatic cancer, there isn’t really a difference with what you’re describing.

    • WJW 3 days ago

      Yes I (sadly) know. I commiserate with your loss.

  • tw04 3 days ago

    > "10 days begging each minute to die but you can't because you're borderline unconscious"

    They aren’t going to know if it does that until they give it to a human in the first place. The only difference in giving it now is they lack a control group.

  • magospietato 3 days ago

    Having seen a family member die absolutely horrifically in a matter of weeks due to late-diagnosed pancreatic cancer, I'd consider suicide if I got the same diagnosis.

    • WJW 3 days ago

      Yes I (sadly) know. I commiserate with your loss.

      Still wouldn't let my loved ones try untested treatments though, especially if it buys only weeks of extra lifetime. The potential costs are too high.

    • [removed] 3 days ago
      [deleted]
kulahan 3 days ago

I found this green block in my back yard. It killed a dog because he was mostly cancer I think. Anyways just sign over hundreds of thousands of dollars, thanks! This will probably ki—er, cure you. What have you got to lose?