On April 16, Fox News host Laura Ingraham invited Phil McGraw to give medical advice to her viewers about the medical harms of the economic shutdown. However, McGraw has not had a medical license to practice since he let it expire in 2006.
Laura Ingraham has unlicensed psychologist give terrible analysis on the COVID-19 shutdown
Ingraham invited “Dr. Phil,” who hasn't had a medical license since 2006, to give medical analysis on her Fox show
Written by John Whitehouse
Published
Indeed, McGraw has a litany of serious complaints against him, including disturbing allegations regarding his show:
A joint investigation by the Boston Globe and the medical news site Stat has chronicled new and disturbing allegations of treatment of guests who came to McGraw for help with substance abuse struggles.
The expose presents accounts from multiple guests on his syndicated show who say their addictions were enabled by members of McGraw’s staff in hopes of boosting ratings.
Todd Herzog, who struggled with alcohol abuse in the years after winning “Survivor,” said that when he arrived at the Dr. Phil Los Angeles studio in 2013, he found a bottle of vodka in his dressing room and was given a Xanax to “calm his nerves.” Herzog had to be carried on set before his sit-down with McGraw, and registered a .263 blood alcohol content — more than three times the legal limit.
The health and welfare of other guests was put at risk by staff members, who allegedly played a role in their search for drugs, family members told the Globe and Stat reporters. The investigation also looked into the level of medical care guests with addiction issues received while filming in Los Angeles, as well as McGraw’s relationship with the treatment centers his guests are often referred to. Centers that buy “Dr. Phil’s Path to Recovery” have been promoted on the “Dr. Phil” show.
And yet, Ingraham hosted him to reveal the health risks from the COVID-19 shutdown, and he proceeded to argue that the country didn’t shut down over automobile deaths, cigarette deaths, or swimming deaths:
As Mike Schur, longtime slayer of bad punditry, pointed out in response to McGraw’s comments, automobile accidents are not contagious.
Finally, one (self-proclaimed) licensed psychologist put it bluntly -- in the type of words that perhaps McGraw himself would appreciate in a different context: