Bending the Rules of Clinical Trials

October 30, 2009

Louise (not her real name), a scientist and avid runner in her 50s, first noticed the strange pangs under her right ribcage a few weeks before we met. Her CAT scan revealed a liver so riddled with islands of tumor that the radiologist called them “too numerous to count.” None of the standard surgical, radiologic or chemotherapy treatments would help, and her doctor told her that she had two, maybe three, months to live. (New York Times)