Freakonomics Radio
678. Who Gets to Choose a “Good Death”?
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Show notes
New York is the latest state to legalize medical aid in dying. Stephen Dubner speaks with the governor who signed the law, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, a death doula — and an ethicist who thinks the very idea is wrong.
- SOURCES:
- Kathy Hochul, governor of New York.
- Suzanne O'Brien, death doula, founder of Doulagivers Institute.
- Al Roth, economist at Stanford University.
- Daniel Sulmasy, physician, philosopher, director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.
- RESOURCES:
- Moral Economics: From Prostitution to Organ Sales, What Controversial Transactions Reveal About How Markets Work, by Al Roth (2026).
- "New York Moves to Allow Terminally Ill People to Die on Their Own Terms," by Grace Ashford (New York Times, 2025).
- The Good Death: A Guide for Supporting Your Loved One through the End of Life, by Suzanne O'Brien (2025).
- The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, by Neil Gorsuch (2009).
- EXTRAS:
- "Make Me a Match (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
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