Cancer Drug Repository Program Act
A diagnosis of cancer is initially devastating to a family. So many unanswered questions： Will there the pain, physical changes and how can I cope if lose my loved one? The last question a family needs to ask at this time is how can I afford the treatment. This the heartfelt sentiment of Sen. Vicki McDonald with the Cancer Drug Repository Program Act, LB756, introduced in the new legislative session. The purpose of the bill is to allow families with unused cancer medications to donate them to a pharmacy, hospital or nonprofit medical clinic. The medications would be inspected and reissued to another cancer patient.
Even so, because of the exacting standards of medical practice that ate necessary to protect patients, we have serious reservations about the McDonald bill. The proposal requires medications to be in their original, sealed, tamper evident, unit-dose packaging. An exception allows the packaging to be opened, but the unit dose seal must still be intact. Medications accepted into the program must also have an expiration date longer than six months away.
The Department of Health and Human Services is charged with setting up the program, establishing the criteria for inspecting the drugs, determining what medications will be accepted and the maximum handling fee a dispensing facility can charge. The bill also requires the person receiving the medication to sign a form releasing liability to the dispensing facility, state, manufacturer, etc., for potentially altered medications. This sounds like a compassionate, caring method of helping one aspect of coping with cancer. Then again, would the benefit of such a program outweigh the risk to even one patient whose medication was not effective because it sat in a hot car for a length of time and the potency had diminished?
LB756 is an admirable attempt for donation of expensive medications back to cancer patients. In reality, however, few pharmacies will be able to maintain the paperwork process required in this bill. In addition, few local pharmacies handle chemotherapy medication distribution.
Patient safety is a priority in most health care professional''s practice. The thought of dispensing a medication where the handling of it could not be tracked violates the rules of a safe, professional practice. Cancer patients tend to be some of our most vulnerable patients. Many times their immune systems are severely compromised from the cancer medications and treatment. Even a slight error or alteration of their medication could have a devastating, negative effect. The Cancer Drug Repository Act has the best intentions of these patients in mind to help meet the financial burden of cancer treatment. Even the best intentions, however, are not always the right thing to do.
一、全文翻译
家庭的某个成员被诊断患有癌症之后对这个家庭来说无异于灾难。有很多未知的问题：是否会有疼痛及体质的变化，如果失去所爱的人我又该如何面对？一个家庭要问的最终一个问题是：是否负担得起医疗费。这是参议员McDonald对于“癌症药物积存项目法案，LB756”的由衷感受。这一法案已被纳入新的立法程序。这项草案的目的是让那些拥有尚未使用的癌症药物的家庭，将那些药物捐献给药店、医院或非盈利性质的诊所，待药物被检查以后重新给其他癌症病人使用。
即使如此，因为用来保护病人的医疗标准极其严格，我们对McDonald提出的草案持严肃的保留意见。建议中要求药物须原封不动，没有人用过，分剂量单位包装。一种特殊情况是：包装可以被打开，但是，各剂量单位包装必须是原封不动。另外，此项目可接收的药物至少还要有六个月以上的有效期。
卫生和公共事业部门负责设立该项目，确立审查药物的标准，决定什么样的药物可以被接受，以及分配机构最多可收取的手续费。草案同时提出，接受药物的人要填写一个表格，表示如果发生用药改变，分发机构、国家和制药商将不负责任。这个立法听起来是种富有同情心的、人道的帮助患者治疗癌症的方法。同时再次要提出的是，如果一个病人只因将药物放在高温的车内持续了一段时间，使药的效力降低而致使药物起不到应有的作用的话，那么这个项目还会是利多弊少吗？
“癌症药物积存法”是将昂贵的癌症药物捐赠给癌症患者的一种值得赞赏的尝试。然而在实际中，很少有药店能够一直维持这项草案中所提出的进行书面记录的要求；而且，很少会有当地的药店分销这些化学疗法药物。
在多数医护行业，病人的安全是头等重要的事情，分发某种药物而不能追溯其如何处理的这种做法，违背了职业操作的安全规范。癌症病人通常是最容易受到伤害的病人之一，癌症药物和治疗经常严重危及他们的免疫系统，即使是用药过程中犯一个小错误和稍微改变用药，也可能带来灾难性的反作用。“癌症药物积存法”表达了人们想帮助这些病人的良好意愿，减少他们在治疗癌症过程中的经济负担，然而最良好的意愿不一定就意味着这是最正确的事情。
