Author Archives: Dominic Nutt

Dominic Nutt

The Independent View: Commons must debate key Medical Innovation Bill before election

By Dominic Nutt | Thu 19th February 2015 - 8:55 am

Maurice Saatchi’s Medical innovation Bill has caused controversy and inspired a passionate debate on how doctors and scientists can and should speed up medical advance for currently incurable diseases.

The Bill is designed to do two things. First, it will offer clarity and confidence to doctors who want to innovate and move away from standard procedures.

When might that be relevant? In most cases standard procedures work and innovation is unnecessary. There is a vast quantity of scientifically validated data which supports standard medical procedures.

But in some cases – specially for rare and incurable diseases –  there is little scientific data and no effective treatments. In such cases, a doctor and the patient may face a choice, between applying the standard treatments, even though they are known not to work and will lead only to death, or to try something new.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , , and | 64 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Simon
    @Alex Macfie we might not have won the London Mayoralty in 2004 (the year after Brent East) but i was still our best ever result and we elected 5 assembly membe...
  • Toby
    If we truly believed in a two-state solution and empowering moderates over extremists, shouldn't Liberal Democrat councils twin with both Israeli towns and citi...
  • Suzanne Fletcher
    I know it is only a relatively small thing we can do, but it is something for us all to do ourselves and promote for others to do so. Zaytoun support farmers i...
  • Matt Wardman
    @John Macinnes I think data privacy is one issue amongst several - such as not killing the benefits because of a moral panic. I think we need to think beyond...
  • Matt Wardman
    @John Macinnes I think data privacy is one issue amongst several - such as not killing the benefits, and I think we need to think beyond Meta to the generic....