Especially in the studies they're talking about here, which are about cancer drugs. It's life-and-death stuff, and it's not so simple as "Well, we haven't proven this yet, so you just run off and die while we run a few more studies."
We have a hard enough time keeping desperate people from trying things that we know for a fact are scams. Perhaps doctors could put the studies in clearer context when prescribing, but they are always clear that these drugs aren't perfectly effective and that it's kind of a crapshoot.
When you've got patients who will die anyway, it's no surprise that we end up treating them as a final stage of clinical trials. You need to be honest about that and get consent, but many will give it willingly.
Actually, my sister's full-time job is explaining to folks at the end of their cancer journey that there's actually one more thing they can try. It very likely will not help them survive. Not for themselves, but for people that come after. A drug that might not do anything, or it might do a little, or it might be what we've been praying for.
And those Iowa farmers and shopkeepers and schoolteachers at the end of their lives sign the form. An unreasonable population of them. For no reason but to help.
We have a hard enough time keeping desperate people from trying things that we know for a fact are scams. Perhaps doctors could put the studies in clearer context when prescribing, but they are always clear that these drugs aren't perfectly effective and that it's kind of a crapshoot.
When you've got patients who will die anyway, it's no surprise that we end up treating them as a final stage of clinical trials. You need to be honest about that and get consent, but many will give it willingly.