Should Medical Aid In Dying Be Legalized?

The Dr. Phil Podcast

Dr. Phil McGraw

Mental Health, Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Phil continues his exploration of the controversial issue of Medical Aid in Dying, in which a competent adult with a terminal illness receives a prescription for self-administered medication to end their life—legal in only 11 parts of the country. He speaks with Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, New York State Senator for the 23rd District, who says she fights to make Medical Aid in Dying legal in her state. He also speaks with Kim Callinan, President and CEO of Compassion and Choices, an organization dedicated to advocating for end-of-life options and helping implement medical aid in dying laws nationwide. The debate intensifies when Dr. Phil introduces Brian Johnston, author of Death As A Salesman: What’s Wrong With Assisted Suicide, who argues that Medical Aid in Dying does not help, but rather facilitates the suicide of vulnerable adults.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Your daughter begged you both to help medically end her life.
0:03.7	As a father, it was so difficult to watch her suffer like that.
0:07.0	He says legalization means intentionally killing vulnerable people.
0:12.0	It's very common for people to say, hey, let's get this over.
0:15.0	That's the reason there's laws to not help people commit suicide.
0:19.0	So you're saying my daughter wanted you commit suicide? With medicine?
0:21.4	No, she died of cancer.
0:23.4	My option is to end my life,
0:25.0	and that's the option that I'm choosing.
0:26.6	Tonight, we're continuing the conversation about a controversial end-of-life option only legal in 10 states and Washington, D.C.
0:45.3	It's called Medical Aid in Dying, also known as Maid, where a competent adult with a terminal illness is prescribed a self-administered lethal medication
0:57.6	to end his or her life. Last night, we spoke with guests who all say their emotional and
1:04.9	heartbreaking stories are the very reason why medical aid and dying should be legal for those who desperately need it.
1:14.6	Here's what happened last night.
1:17.2	I have a permanent spinal cord injury
1:19.1	called spinal cord myelopathy.
1:21.9	I feel like I'm trapped in a body.
1:23.9	What I choose is quality of life over quantity of life.
1:33.4	You say if your pain doesn't subside, you plan to medically end your life.
1:33.7	Correct.
1:38.4	I can picture myself in that bed at the clinic pressing the button.
1:41.1	I imagine relief of pain.
	...

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