It is well established in psychological circles that most people who serially threaten suicide (as Phil does) aren't really serious about it. Someone serious about suicide will almost always do it, often without ever giving the slightest hint as to their intentions. Alternately, some of these people will just leave a subtle hint and leave it at that, with no threat being made. Tragically, in these cases those hints aren't recognized by others for what they are until it's too late.
Phil is, among other things, a narcissist. Narcissists are their own creation. They feed their "disorder"; it isn't something that just accidentally happened without their contribution. Not only do narcissists create their own disorder, but they then inflict in on everyone around them. When a narcissist threatens suicide, this perspective still applies (IMO).
Phil's ass-patters react quite predictably to his serial suicide baiting, showering him with ass-pats. If they simply ignored him, do you think he's use this tactic over and over again to get their attention? The obvious answer is no. If a narcissist is frequently threatening suicide, then that's pretty much all the proof you need that their threats are garnering then attention. If they move of from threats to actually doing it (unlikely but not completely impossible in Phil's case) then the blame rests squarely on them.
Some professionals in the psychological community recognize suicide as very often being a hostile act towards others. It can be used to stick a knife in between the ribs of family and friends that can never be removed. Think about it. That's a LOT of power to wield. To pretend that narcissists don't factor this in to their serial suicide threats is to be stupidly naive.