Proposed ‘Right to Try’ bill gives terminally-ill Nevadans a chance at treatments

By Jaclyn Schultz

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    LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — A Las Vegas lawmaker has a personal mission with a proposed “Right to Try” Bill, giving terminally-ill Nevadans a chance at experimental treatments in an effort to save their life.

Las Vegas lawmaker Assemblywoman Heidi Kasama of District 2 has proposed AB 188, expanding the 2015 “Right to Try” law. In 2015, the legislature gave Nevadans access to treatments in Phase I clinical trials if a patient is terminally ill and exhausted all treatments.

AB 188, as written, would expand the options for care for new breakthroughs in clinical trials: targeted treatments for individual patients based on their genetics and DNA. All these treatments are already FDA-approved, Kasama said.

“It’s still in federally-approved and insured clinics. Of course, there’s so many safeguards. In all these bills, the patient has to have consent,” Kasama said. “We are relieving the doctors, the clinics and the hospitals of any liability because everybody understands that this is experimental– but it is saving lives,” she said.

Kasama’s husband suffered from stage 4 cancer and doctors said he was terminally ill and had until possibly Labor Day to live; with help from the Comprehensive Cancer Centers in Las Vegas, he is now cancer-free.

“I worked hard to move the mountains to see what kind of treatment I could get from my husband,” Kasama said. “Just like my personal story, why don’t we want everybody to have a chance like that?” she said, knowing others may not have the same success.

The Clark County Medical Society didn’t have a stance on the bill. FOX5 reached out to Assembly Democrats but did not hear back.

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