> It's the fact that options laid out on the table with unknowns can be preferable to people than no options, or fewer options.
Assuming you're talking about me, that's not exactly my point. I didn't intend to make any assertions about what patients or their families should or should not do, or in general any normative points (though I did use the word "justification", which I shouldn't have).
Rather, what I was saying is that businesses that aren't profitable cease to exist, and if the business's product is an experimental medical therapy that could end up killing a substantial fraction of its patients, the business might lose money when those patients' families sue the business. It's fairly predictable that a good fraction of experimental therapies will have this outcome, even if you don't know which ones in advance. Consequently, businesses that don't price it into their business model will, in most cases, go bankrupt after their first few successful therapies, making them unattractive for venture capital.
So the high price tag is somewhat predictable, whatever you may think of its moral status.
Separately, your comment seems to imply that damages on breach-of-contract and similar civil tort cases are paid to the plaintiff by the state rather than the defendant. That is not correct. They are paid by the defendant if they are paid at all. In the US, you can also file a civil tort case for conversion against someone who stole your car and get awarded damages in the same way.