>> she is battling a rare form of double lung cancer. so she is singing "o, canada." >> thank you so much for watching this morning. sanjay gupta, md, starts right now. >> welcome. i want to spend a little bit of time today telling what you you should know about ebola. now truth is thankfully most of you watching right now are never going to be touched by ebola. this is still a rare disease. especially in the united states where although it is sad, just one person has died. now admittedly there are lots of mixed messages. there is fighting over ebola guidelines and when and when not to quarantine people. i was in washington, d.c., at the white house on wednesday. i got news to share about that later in the program. but let's start with the good news. the rate of new cases in one key country, liberia, has started to

slow down. the epidemic is still raging in sierra leone and guniea but at least we have a hint it may be possible to bring this under control. the key to all that is the health care workers on the ground in west africa. so the question a lot of people asking, how much would a mandatory quarantine affect these workers' desire and ability to go back to west africa? i had a chance to talk about this with kent brantley. he's an american medical worker who contracted ebola while working in liberia. he was flown to atlanta and the first person treated for ebola on u.s. soil. >> i think it absolutely would. people are going to work over there. they have to be motivated out of compassion for their fellow human being. but beyond that compassion, they need some incentive because it's a big -- it's a risk. it's a scary thing to leave your home, go to the other side of the world and take care of people dying of a deadly virus.

so i think any barrier to that is going to have an impact on people who are trying to decide whether or not they can go help. >> dr. brantley isn't alone. essentially condemning the quarantines. dr. daniel turtel is also on the front line of the epidemic. >> i think when we talk about quarantine without getting into issues of policy, i mean, those decisions have to be based on science and there's not a void of science. we have science to help inform those decisions. >> both brantley and tirta, both doctors, they're among the health care workers recognized by president obama this week. i want to show you a picture that i took while i was at the white house. it's quite an extraordinary thing to think about. on the left you have president obama in the white house surrounded by health care workers, many of whom had just returned from west africa. on the right, you have kasi hickox just returned if west afri africa.

all the health care workers within 21 days now, all of them healthy. so why are the doctors on the left in the white house with the president and the doctor, the nurse on right facing a mandatory quarantine? you can see why it's so confusing. but this is where we've arrived in this country. while physicians and health care workers are speaking out against the quarantines, the airports are stepping up their screening procedures. now people coming into the united states from west african countries impacted by ebola will now go through new screening measures to help prevent the spread of the virus. it's happening at five major u.s. airports, new york, newark, chicago, atlanta, and dulles international airport. and that's where we find cnn's renee marsh. she had an inside look at how passengers are undergoing the health screenings. renee, thank you for joining us. thank you for being on the program. you've been doing this for a while. how effective do you think the new screening procedures are going to be? >> you know, i ask that very

question to customs and border protection. we got for the first time a face-to-face with them when they gave thus behind-the-scenes look. before we go there, i just want to share with you some numbers. since this enhanced screening started, more than 1100 people have gone through the enhanced screening. only eight of those individuals were transported to the hospital. at the end of all of this, no cases of ebola whether we talk about the enhanced screening, they have not detected anyone with ebola coming through these u.s. airports. that being said, how effective is this? we know that the doctor in new york came through jfk where there is enhanced screening. but at the time, did he not have symptoms. but whether you talk to officials who are overseeing this, they stay this is simply another layer. it is not 100%. back to behind the scenes, we also now know how it works with the process. this is the cdc questionnaire we've been hearing so much about. now we know exactly what kind of

questions people have to answer once they arrive at these u.s. airports. they ask for two e-mail addresses, two telephone numbers, a home address, an address for where they're going to be staying for the next 21 days. and then there some very detailed questions that customs officer has to ask. depending on how they answer the questions that, determines what happens next. >> yeah, that's a good point. you do wonder obviously how infective this will be for the reasons you just mentioned. if a person doesn't have a fever, they may not be caught here. so renee, thanks so much. appreciate it. >> sure. >> now just ahead, a woman's death shocks her entire family. her entire community really. and it launches this investigation. the question they were trying to ask, was it assisted suicide or was it murder? we have that story next.

as doctors we're taught to heal n five states it is legal for doctors to help people die. one of those states is oregon. that's where a woman named brittany maynard started this debate when she announced to take her own life. she is 29 years old. she was recently diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer. every story is different. but today i want to look at an angle that maybe doesn't get paid enough attention to. i want to look at the impact that assisted suicide has on the rest of the family. and also the questions that it leaves behind. when jana pass add way, she didn't leave much behind. >> this is pretty much jana's life. a book of her medical history, doctors, hospitals, labs,

prescriptions. >> this is jana's older sister vicki. she and her husband tom live in the same phoenix neighborhood as jana did. they saw her suffering. while jana had trouble most of her life, it had become progressively worse. >> she just -- it was just very tough for her daily. she took lots of different medicines it make her feel better. >> did she ever complain of physical pain? >> all the time. she thought she was seriously ill. >> and then vicki got a troubling call one day. a woman who said she was a friend of jana's from church. >> and she said to me, you know how jana is always sick and we're very worried about her because we can't get ahold of her. >> it was here at jana's house that tom and vicki discovered the worst. they got a spare key and entered the home and then found jana lying in her bed. it was shortly thereafter that they suspected foul play. >> i think when we were going through her belongings there were a couple things we found

and one was a brochure of the final exit network. >> and in jana's checkbook, another important clue. on february 13th, 2007, final xet network mbship fees, $50. but what was final exit? online they found this website. it says the final exit network serves members in all 50 states who are suffering from intolerable medical circumstances. are mentally competent, want to end their lives and meet our official written criteria. and suddenly it all made sense. that's when tom and vicki realized that jana had gotten help to kill herself. i went to meet dr. lawrence edbert, the man who approved jana's request to die. he's a retired an thesology and he was the final exit's medical

director at the time of her death. he is 87 years old, frnldly, charming, he doesn't own a cell phone or car and passionate about this cause. >> a lot of people think of this as a good idea. >> according to the reports, the saints, as he calls them, help hundreds of people to hasten death. by his own account, when he was director,' proved about 300 final exit applicants. >> they would say i'll get your name and your telephone number and somebody will call you back in a few days. and that person would then call you back and ask you why. >> could you approve somebody without having met them? >> yes. i could. to say there is a reason to proceed. >> if that all sounds unnerving, then also consider this. according to police reports, jane told final exit she had lesions on the liver, possible breast cancer, head injuries, removal of the gallbladder,

overcomposure to radiation and ingestion of rat poison. did she have liver lesions? >> no. >> did she have breast cancer? >> no. >> did she have toxic pesticide? >> no. >> did she have arsenic poisoning? >> no. >> did you know all of this when looking at her application? >> i had the same records they had. >> the problem is the doctor took jana at her word. no doctor ever confirmed any of those physical ailments. jana certainly wasn't terminal, not even physically ill. and there was something else. in one of jana's last psychiatric evaluations, her psychiatrist noted this patient has become increasingly psychotic. on the last page, jana's diagnosis -- psychosis. >> her brother and her sister said she had life long issues with mental illness which was relevant. they requested the whole thing. did you question it given this mental instability? >> sure. >> wouldn't than a big red flag?

>> it's a red flag all right. the question is how big? it was very clear from her psychiatric notes on file that she had psychiatric problems. and was uncomfortable with my ability to say or decide on that i had psychiatric -- psychologist who's i did not honor. >> no psychologist, no psychiatrist, no other doctors were consulted. still, again and again, he told me he stood by his decision and he said final exit volunteers saw nothing wrong either. jana's exit guide as the group calls it, was 89-year-old frank langsler. he had barely known her a month before he went to her house and watched her die. >> so there was no question in my mind that if she wanted to go through with the event. >> as an exit guide, he is very careful not to give specific suicide instructions. >> and then they may have some questions about it.

but we don't touch any materials of or any equipment. so they're on their own. >> for jana, here's what the last few days of her life looked like. march 27th, 2007, she wrote a check out to party city for $64.84. she noted, helium balloon kits. a few days later she bought other supplies. i don't want to get too specific. >> never get used to seeing it? you saw 100 times? >> the day i get used to it, i will stop. >> whether breathes in, helium depleats the body of oxygen. the doctor showed me how it all works. we chose not to show the details but to see it firsthand, even as a demonstration, was disturbing. >> is it horrifying to you? it's horrifying to me to just hear about it. i can't imagine being there. >> see, you haven't -- you're

not talking to a guy who is suffering with pain and smiling and saying thank you. thank you, doctor. >> the doctor and three other final exit members were tried in 2011 in connection to jana's death. dr. edbert was acquitted, three other final exit members plead guilty to lesser charges. i was the last person to do a television interview with jack kevorkian before he died where we both became doctors a few decades apart. you can read my blog all about this on cnn.com/health. if i told you this, in three months you could turn your ordinary brain into a super brain. i'm going to show you how. that's coming right up. with universities across the state. for better access to talent, cutting edge research, and state of the art facilities. and you pay no taxes for ten years. from biotech in brooklyn, to next gen energy in binghamton, to manufacturing in buffalo...

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what if you could make your mind better and faster and stronger. your mind. don't you want to do this right now? this is something i'm very interested in and i'm sure a lot of you are as well. well, the science channel has gone searching for answers by taking this idea of brain games to a whole new level. >> i'm todd sampson and on a quest for a better brain. i've embarked on a unique three-month experiment to see if science can turn any brain into a superbrain. after one month of training i've already increased my speed of thinking, sharpened by attention and dramatically increased my memory. i'm not changing the order ever. but now i want to turbocharge my creativity. >> who doesn't want all of that? and todd sampson joins us now. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> it looks like a great promo. i'm going to watch. >> my brain was tired just watching that promo.

>> as part of how our brain operate nowadays, there's a lot of activity in that promo. i get the idea it's the tone of the show. >> yes, it's fast. it's based on the premise that science for a long time told us that our brain prandly develops at 7, at 30 it starts to klein and that's it, we can do nothing about it. but we know it's positively false, you can correct your brain at any age. >> one thing you talk about in the show is the idea of creativity and how important it is. you make the comment, we don't just want to be robots. can you define what creativity means? in just a couple sentences? >> practical innovation. i mean, the ability to look at a problem and solve it originally or laterally. i was surprised it was a very controversial episode. there are a lot of people, artists particularly that wrote in saying you can't learn creativity. you're born with it, and that's not true. science has shown that there are ways you can improve the way you think laterally, the way you look at problems. >> so, it can be taught is your

premise, and to anybody? is anyone capable of learning this? >> yes. we're particularly open to it when we're young and we have less restrictions on our mind, less constraints when we have less of the establishment pushing us down, but you can increase your creativity. you can become a more inventive person as you age. >> one of the things -- i have three small children so i think about this a lot is you want to build the fundamental knowledge well because ultimately creativity draws on concepts and puts them together in unusual ways, fair description? >> that's a fair description. some of the tests we do the alternative use test, if we hold up a shoe what comes to mind immediately as an alternative use to the shoe, when i do that with my children, the things they come up with are fantastic. i never would have got there on my own but listening to them, i was like wow. >> it's almost as if we get too confounded as things get thrown at us as adults. you also talked about being faster, being able to pay more attention to things. did you find yourself changing?

what seemed to really make the deference? >> they spend roughly seven hours with my head in an fmri and mag machine to establish my baseline and some things i was good at. some things i was very average at. and after the training i did roughly three months of training, i was completely stunned by how much change there was. i was, i thought faster, my memory which was terrible before, had improved dramatically. i had studied science at university but it was all theory. and suddenly it became real for me. >> so just can you give me some examples? like, i want to improve my memory, everybody probably does. well, there are a couple things that stuck out at you as being particularly good tips? >> attention. the fact is we pay little attention to the things around us. we live in this inattentive world because of overstimulation. just simply paying attention to something can dramatically improve your memory. a lot of people forget names and faces. and i get asked a lot how would you -- you know, what's the tip on that. well, it's relatively straightforward in that it's visual.

a third of our brain is connected to vision as you know and if you can switch that name into a visual image, i'll need to memorize john so you look for a distinctive feature and john you might think toilet and you put toilet in their eyes and that will be lodged in their heads. as opposed to you thinking john, john, john, john, john, john. >> and you can never take that guy seriously. because you always see a toilet in his eyes. >> he's always toilet face. >> and t-shirts, everybody wants their brains. todd, what's the deal? >> no-brainer. >> i got it. >> watch the show. >> i saw it in the promo as well. i'm going to watch the show. i hope a lot of people do. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> appreciate it. great conversation. and still ahead, what it took to get to this finish line. a woman of strength and her amazing journey. for my retirement. transamerica made it easy. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. transamerica. transform tomorrow.

in over 400 pounds sia fagel was revered in other samoan culture. >> i was revered as one woman of strength but there's no strength in pain, in hurt, in living with uncontrolled diabetes. >> complications from her diabetes even forced her to have all of her teeth removed. >> it was on that same day that i decided to be an activist against obesity and diabetes. >> to jump-start her own weight loss she joined the 2014 cnn fit nation team and began training for the nautica malibu triathlon. on september 14th she became a triathlete. >> i just feel like i'm a new person. i feel like i've been rebirthed. i've been baptized. >> she finished the race with her team by her side. more than 100 pounds lighter now, she's not ready to stop. >> i will do it again.

>> now, sia was just one member of the inspiring 2014 fit nation team who fought hard for a stronger and healthier life. and do you know what, you now have the chance to do the same. seven months. six cnn viewers. three different sports. one race to the finish line. >> you got it, girl. >> top coaches. >> yay! >> devoted teammates. >> thank god my team was there. and they brought me in. >> transforming bodies and minds. >> my goal was to do a triathlon. >> the hardest thing i've ever done. >> that seems like such a silly goal now because it's so much bigger than that. >> i took an oath early on if i can get through this that even if i can get through the ordeal, the journey will never be over. >> so now it's your turn. we're looking for some good people and if you think you're ready to be part of the 2015 fit nation team, logon to

cnn.com/fitnation. submit a video. tell us why you deserve the chance to hit the reset button. that's what i call it. and you can cross the finish line with us. that's going to wrap things up for "sg md" today. "new day sunday" continues right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning to you! don't mess yourself up when you look at the clock, it is 8:00 indeed. you got an extra hour. i'm christi paul. >> hope you enjoyed it. i'm victor blackwell, we enjoyed yours. this is the final sprint, the race to tuesday. we're just two days now before you decide which party will control the senate. >> that has all the candidates in full force this weekend. they're shaking hands, they're making speeches. they're holding babies, they're working the crowds, trying to get your vote. this is going to be a nail biter really at the end of the day. >> it could boil down to a fewer