Nevada Right to Try bill clears last legislative hurdle

Elayna Youchah sits after testifying in favor of Assembly Bill 164 during a videoconference with the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services at Grant Sawyer Government Building Friday, March 6, 2015, in Las Vegas. If passed, Youchah's father may benefit from AB 164, which would allow patients with incurable diseases to access drugs that have not received a final approval by the FDA. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Elayna Youchah speaks about her father while testifying in favor of Assembly Bill 164 during a videoconference with the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services at Grant Sawyer Building Friday, March 6, 2015, in Las Vegas. If passed, Youchah's father may benefit from AB 164, which would allow patients with incurable diseases to access drugs that have not received a final approval by the FDA. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CARSON CITY — A Right to Try bill that would make it easier for terminally ill Nevadans to obtain experimental medications that could help prolong their lives is on its way to Gov. Brian Sandoval’s desk after winning unanimous approval in the Senate on Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 164 is sponsored by Assembly­man James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, who said the measure would make it easier for those diagnosed with one year or less to live to seek potential remedies that have not received final approval from the Federal Drug Administration.

The bill passed the Assembly with unanimous support on April 16.

Las Vegas attorney Elayna Youchah testified for the bill earlier this session, saying her 86-year-old father is facing a terminal illness and his treatment could benefit from the legislation. Youchah said a drug going through trials in Arizona and California might help her father, Michael, live longer and have a better quality of life.

Under the bill, doctors would be authorized to give prescriptions to individuals if three conditions are met: a diagnosis of a terminal condition; a determination that there is no treatment approved by the FDA that is adequate to treat the condition; and that the patient consents with knowledge of the possible consequences of such treatments.