The Right-to-try-drug proposal is a solution for a non-existent problem

This fall the House of Representatives is likely to take up legislation passed by the Senate that gives terminally ill patients the right to try unproven, experimental drugs that are not yet on the market. Thirty-seven states have already passed similar legislation.

All this may sound like terrific news for very sick patients with few or no treatment options left, but the issue deserves a much deeper look thanks to its potential impact on people’s pocketbooks and health.

“The public has no idea this is not a good thing,” says Alison Bateman-House, a medical ethicist at New York University’s La...