'A Glimpse of Hope': TV star and campaigner Esther Rantzen welcomes new assisted dying bill
26 July 2024, 11:31 | Updated: 26 July 2024, 12:23
TV star Dame Esther Rantzen says she has "caught a glimpse of hope" due to a new bid to legalise assisted dying being laid before Parliament.
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Dame Esther, who has been campaigning for assisted dying to be legalised since being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last year, said the move gave her a "glimpse of hope." and could potentially allow her to die peacefully at home surrounded by her family.
'I want to go out with champagne and caviar' says Dame Esther Rantzen
Read More: ‘The law is a mess’: Dame Esther Rantzen issues fresh call for free vote on assisted dying
Writing in the Daily Express, she said: "This week, for the first time for over a year, I caught a glimpse of hope... I have dared to look forward."
Praising the first reading of the Bill, she added that it had provided "light at the end of a tunnel which has trapped me for so long".
"What we terminally ill need is to be allowed the hope that if life becomes intolerable, we can ask for help to leave it," she wrote, saying the existing law meant anyone accompanying her on a trip to Switzerland to end her life would be breaking the law.
Adding what the proposed Bill would mean for her personally, she stated that "The law might actually change in time for me to die peacefully at home surrounded by those I love. Suddenly my heart lifted."
Last week, with an update on her condition, Dame Esther's daughter Rebecca Wilcox said her mother is "living from scan to scan".
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has doubled down on a pre-election commitment to allow a free vote on changes to assisted dying laws, but has declined to put a timetable on it. Lord Falconer was chosen second in the ballot to introduce the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill.
The Bill is likely to be debated over the coming year.
Lord Falconer, who has been a supporter of assisted dying, said the idea of legalising assisted dying has moved up the political and social agenda in recent decades.
In his bill, he wants to introduce safeguards so that has to be mentally able to make the decision and that two doctors would have to approve it. Not only this, it must have High Court approval.
However, some campaigners have called for a new law to be extended to people living with unbearable suffering, who may not be terminally ill, a proposal that Lord Falconer has said he is "very strongly against".
He said: "My Bill is absolutely directed about how you die in the context of a terminal illness."
Currently, assisting someone to end their life is a criminal offence in England and Wales, a concern that Dame Esther Rantzen in campaigning to change.
MPs debate assisted dying after Dame Esther Rantzen-led petition
An emotional debate in Westminster Hall earlier this year saw MPs from across the political spectrum give impassioned speeches for and against changing the law, demonstrating the wide spectrum of opinions regarding the matter.
Yet critics argue that legalisation could put pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a burden on others and that the disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.
However proponents such as Dame Esther Rantzen say it would allow people to die with dignity. Some also pose the argument that death is a private matter and the state should therefore not interfere.
Earlier this year Dame Esther told LBC she will open a bottle of champagne live on air if a free vote on assisted dying goes ahead.
Dame Esther revealed late last year that she had joined Dignitas, and told Nick in February how she would like to prepare for her final moments."What I would like, if we can get our laws straight and it doesn't put my family at risk, is I'd like to fly off to Zurich with my nearest and dearest, have a fantastic dinner the night before," she said.
"I love caviar and the fact it doesn’t always agree with me doesn't matter – I could even have champagne which I'm deeply allergic to.
"Then, the next day, go to this rather unappealing place where they do it, listen to a favourite piece of music and say goodbye to everybody.
"I'll tell them to 'cheer up, I’m meeting my late husband, my departed dog and my mother at the pearly gates' and hold out my hand for an injection or open my mouth for a rather disgusting medication."
