4 ms·

suppose X is dying and everyone in his family circle consents, why not try it? Being an emergency and all. Nothing to lose

mehrdadn 7y ago
> why not try it? I imagine not everyone feels comfortable potentially killing someone with a creation of theirs that they're not confident in, even if others are willing to risk it.
- markgavalda 7y ago
  It's the other way around though: it's not them or their creation that is killing the patient, it's the virus. There's a big difference between their creation being unable to save the patient and actively killing them.
  - Gasp0de 7y ago
    That's the thing with giving people stuff that hasn't been tested on anyone before: It might actively kill them, not just not prevent them from being killed by the virus.
  - darkerside 7y ago
    That's a very optimistic viewpoint. In reality, it is certainly possible that their creation could kill the patient before the virus does.
- vintermann 7y ago
  If everyone always demanded the "best" treatment according to our current knowledge, we might never find out there was anything better than leeches...
- forkexec 7y ago
  Informed consent of X or X's health POA determines what happens, not random doctors.
roenxi 7y ago
It isn't a choice of aye or nay to one drug; there are a suite of drugs that either should or probably do help with COVID-19. If they are going to pick something randomly, chloroquine is probably a better choice based on Chinese trials. The speed with which things that help against this coronavirus are being found really is impressive. It is good to be facing this in the modern era instead of 50 years ago.
- beagle3 7y ago
  Well, they faced something comparable 102 years ago ... The world didn't end, though it did suffer greatly.
- forkexec 7y ago
  If going experimental, Camostat and E-64d are better choices to blockade ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Chloroquine has much more serious potential side-effects including irreversible, rapid macular degeneration where someone might reasonably prefer not to continue living because of them.
zamalek 7y ago
America has "a right to try," so patients with no chance could ask for this.
pacoverdi 7y ago
Not a doctor but if X is dying, wouldn't it be too late for antibodies to do their work? e.g. if dying from the immune response or a co-infection.

mehrdadn 7y ago

> why not try it? I imagine not everyone feels comfortable potentially killing someone with a creation of theirs that they're not confident in, even if others are willing to risk it.

markgavalda 7y ago
It's the other way around though: it's not them or their creation that is killing the patient, it's the virus. There's a big difference between their creation being unable to save the patient and actively killing them.
- Gasp0de 7y ago
  That's the thing with giving people stuff that hasn't been tested on anyone before: It might actively kill them, not just not prevent them from being killed by the virus.
- darkerside 7y ago
  That's a very optimistic viewpoint. In reality, it is certainly possible that their creation could kill the patient before the virus does.
vintermann 7y ago
If everyone always demanded the "best" treatment according to our current knowledge, we might never find out there was anything better than leeches...
forkexec 7y ago
Informed consent of X or X's health POA determines what happens, not random doctors.

roenxi 7y ago

It isn't a choice of aye or nay to one drug; there are a suite of drugs that either should or probably do help with COVID-19. If they are going to pick something randomly, chloroquine is probably a better choice based on Chinese trials. The speed with which things that help against this coronavirus are being found really is impressive. It is good to be facing this in the modern era instead of 50 years ago.

beagle3 7y ago
Well, they faced something comparable 102 years ago ... The world didn't end, though it did suffer greatly.
forkexec 7y ago
If going experimental, Camostat and E-64d are better choices to blockade ACE2 and TMPRSS2. Chloroquine has much more serious potential side-effects including irreversible, rapid macular degeneration where someone might reasonably prefer not to continue living because of them.

zamalek 7y ago

America has "a right to try," so patients with no chance could ask for this.

pacoverdi 7y ago

Not a doctor but if X is dying, wouldn't it be too late for antibodies to do their work? e.g. if dying from the immune response or a co-infection.