The Fight For The Right To Die

The Dr. Phil Podcast

Dr. Phil McGraw

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

4.4 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Phil takes on 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—currently legal in only 11 parts of the country. He speaks with Meg, a 47-year-old woman living with chronic pain from a permanent spinal cord injury. Because she doesn’t qualify under existing laws, Meg shares her decision to medically end her life at a facility in Switzerland. Dr. Phil also hears from Meg’s best friend, Kelly, who insists on being by Meg’s side during her final moments. Plus, Dr. Phil meets Daren and Amy, parents who watched their vibrant 24-year-old daughter—a gifted ballet dancer—receive a terminal cancer diagnosis and endure unbearable pain. They say she wanted to pursue Medical Aid in Dying, but because it was illegal in their state, they were forced to watch her suffer until the end.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You say if your pain doesn't subside, you plan to medically end your life within the next six months.
0:06.0	Since she doesn't have a terminal illness, she's forced to travel overseas,
0:10.0	where she has been given the green light to schedule her own deaths.
0:14.0	So your options are either to lay in bed, just take pain meds for the rest of your life.
0:18.0	If you could tell me for certain that I had to wait five years and there was going to be a new
0:21.9	something that it could rebuild the spinal cord.
0:24.8	Could I hold on?
0:25.8	Yes.
0:26.8	How will you say goodbye?
0:27.8	It's the words no patient wants to hear from their doctor.
0:41.3	It's terminal, followed by an estimated time left to live.
0:46.3	What often happens next, if it hasn't already begun, is fear and panic setting in,
0:53.3	as the medical condition robs and destroys
0:55.9	inequality of life and enjoyment, all while leaving family and friends to watch helplessly,
1:02.5	as their loved one deteriorates in agony, oftentimes with pain before their very eyes.
1:08.4	The question becomes, what can you do?
1:11.0	For some, the decision is to end their life
1:13.3	through a process called medical aid in dying,
1:17.7	also known as made, where a competent adult
1:21.0	with a terminal illness is prescribed
1:22.8	as self-administered lethal medication to end their life.
1:27.1	It is a controversial option. Legal in only 11 parts of the United States.
	...

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