I have no medicine for you

January 26, 2010 2:05 PM

What are the rules for Dr Phil's 'medicine game'?

A long while ago I caught Dr Phil on, I think, Oprah. He was conducting something called 'The Medicine Game' which involved roleplaying some kind of illness where medicine was in short supply. Participants had to decide who they would share their medicine with, saying either "I have medicine for you" or "I have no medicine for you". There was a lot of crying. Does anyone have a more detailed description of how this game operates?

posted by unSane to Media & Arts (2 answers total)

Sounds like it might be similar to the "lifeboat process", as described in maias's "Help at Any Cost":
"In this, kids are asked to imagine that they are lost at sea, with a limited number of seats in the available lifeboats. They are given three "live" votes -- and told to choose the teens they think most worthy of being saved. They are not told whether they can select themselves. They must approach each person and say how they voted, shouting either "You live" or "You die" while looking into their eyes.
"Nina actually 'won' this game, which is essentially a popularity contest. But because she didn't give one of her own votes to herself, she was told that she would 'die.' 'It was really terrible,' she says. 'Everybody broke down....I had to say, 'Nina, you die.' It really hurt, I felt like I just wanted to crawl into a corner.'"

Does that sound like what you're talking about?
posted by katemonster at 2:16 PM on January 26, 2010

Response by poster: Yes, kind of. I think Dr Phil's had several rounds where the available doses of medicine were reduced each time.
posted by unSane at 2:22 PM on January 26, 2010