ATLANTA — Terminally ill patients in Georgia may soon be able to try potentially lifesaving but experimental drugs in Georgia.
All 56 senators voted to pass the “Hope for Georgia Patients Act.”
It allows patients access to drugs, procedures and devices in other states and even other countries - the first unanimous vote so far this year.
“Very excited. That’s a rare feat,” state Sen. Matt Brass said, who authored the bill. “If you’re seeking a rare treatment or rare device that’s needed for a terminally ill disease, you’re not going to have to go to California or New York, or in some cases, a foreign country.”
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While a Georgia law may not have any effect on federal regulations or restrictions on bringing medicines into the U.S., he thinks this bill would relieve some doctor’s concerns over prescribing them.
State Sen. Josh McLaurin fully supports the bill and said Democrats are all for loosening some regulations.
“You will hear Democrats talk about loosening regulations all day when it’s smartly done with purpose, and it’s not coming from this ideological anti-government worldview,” McLaurin said.
Brass thinks his bill gives hope to those who have none left.
“We’re talking about severely disabled or terminally ill patients that just may have exhausted all options, and we’re giving them one last option,” Brass said.
That bill now heads over to the House.
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