Terminally Ill Arizonans Will Have "Right to Try;" Voters Reject Pay Raise for Lawmakers | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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Terminally Ill Arizonans Will Have "Right to Try;" Voters Reject Pay Raise for Lawmakers

Terminally ill patients will have the "right to try" experimental drugs and treatments under an Arizona ballot proposition that won in a landslide on Tuesday. Proposition 300 seems like common sense to some, but it's a remarkable proposal in some ways: If a patient, doctor and experimental drug maker agree...
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Terminally ill patients will have the "right to try" experimental drugs and treatments under an Arizona ballot proposition that won in a landslide on Tuesday.

Proposition 300 seems like common sense to some, but it's a remarkable proposal in some ways: If a patient, doctor and experimental drug maker agree to let the patient try something, they can do it.

Other ballot propositions didn't fare nearly as well.

* State voters rejected a pay raise for lawmakers handily.

* In Phoenix, Proposition 487, a bitterly contested measure that would have altered the pension and benefits structure for government employees, failed.

* Proposition 122, which aims to let Arizona "opt out" of federal mandates that the State Legislature views as unconstitutional, was too close to call at about 10:30 p.m. If it wins, though, it's hard to imagine the law doing any real -- other than sparking lawsuits with the feds.

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