The North PacificBoard

The Issue
Preliminary trials of a new immunotherapy drug have suggested that it may achieve remission in bone marrow cancers by up to 28% of formerly untreatable patients. It’s years away from being clinically available, but desperate cancer sufferers are asking for you to expedite this.

The Debate
“Damn bureaucrats are standing between sick people and life-saving treatment,” complains Lauren McDuck, a lobbyist for international pharmaceuticals company Fizer-Updick, pausing for a second as her lawyer whispers something into her ear. “That is to say, these potentially life-saving treatments. Just cut out the red tape, and we can start saving lives. Act now or you will be murdering these poor patients!” Her lawyer holds up a hastily-handwritten sign behind the lobbyist’s head observing that statements made may not represent the official opinion of the Fizer-Updick corporation, nor imply an accusation of legal culpability.

Accept

“Sorry, this is medical science, not faith healing,” snarls unsympathetic-seeming Dr. Rodrigo Sparkle. “We require multi-phase trials to make sure a medicine is non-toxic, safe in the long term and to make sure it actually really works. It’s a shame that a percentage of the population have to die while we wait, but better to lose a few hundred lives than to compromise scientific integrity. No offence, but these deaths are just unavoidable collateral damage in the war on cancer.”

Accept

At this point, you note there’s a perky goth girl with a silver ankh necklace and a swirly tattoo under her right eye in the room. You swear you didn’t see her come in. “Life isn’t measured in years, but in moments. Moments of kindness and connection mean a lot more when death is standing right next to you. Maybe all your doctors could spend more time talking to people instead of thinking about drugs and medicines all the time. You know, listening to their dreams, destinies, desires and deliriums. It’s always good to talk with someone who cares, right at the end.”

Accept