As Dave mentioned above, one essential aspect of allowing risky clinical trials is letting patients who are using them as a last resort go through with them. A patient should be free to engage in a trial where a research estimates even a 90% chance of death if the alternative is (for example) a type of cancer with a 1% survival rate. Consent and education are both essential in cases like these, to ensure that patients are making well-informed decisions without coercion.

In general cases, however, research committees do well to ensure that patients are facing reasonably safe and ethical clinical trials, and should continue to do so. There are some patients that are adamant to try to get into trials that are not good decisions for them (Charlie Gard’s case comes to mind) but there is little to be done in those situations.