Esther Rantzen ‘to haunt’ MPs who vote against assisted dying bill

“I will go to Dignitas… And then, I shall come back and haunt the members of Parliament that haven’t changed our law yet”

Today on Good Morning Britain, as MPs prepare to vote for the first time on the assisted dying bill, Dame Esther Rantzen told ITV’s Paul Brand how she didn’t think she would be here to see the proposals debated in Parliament and how she is calling on MPs to vote with their conscience, otherwise she will return to haunt those who don’t support the bill.

On how she didn’t think she would still be alive to hear the proposals, Dame Esther said:

“Sir Keir said to me that he hoped that I would witness the debate, and I never thought it was possible that I would be lucky enough to have this new miracle drug but low and behold, I will be listening, watching, glued to my television and as I boringly say, with everything crossed that the vote will go towards a change in this cruel, messy law.” 

“It’s not the kind of law that as a compassionate country, we should have in place.” 

BBC Publicity PR handout: Esther Rantzen hosts That’s Life!

Explaining what she will do if the bill is not passed in Parliament today, Dame Esther revealed that she will go to Dignitas in Zurich:

“I will go to Dignitas in Zurich for an assisted death which I hope will be quick and kind and merciful and easy. And then, I shall come back and haunt the members of Parliament that haven’t changed our law yet.” 

Responding to the arguments that vulnerable people may be coerced into an assisted death if the bill is passed, she said: “I’m very saddened by the fact that disabled people feel that they will be anyway involved because this bill only applies to people who are terminally ill in the last six months in their life.” 

Asked by Paul how the last six months campaigning on assisted dying has compared to everything else she has achieved in her career, Dame Esther replied:

“It came out of me disclosing I joined Dignitas and will have to fly to Zurich to have an assisted death if this cancer progresses and starts to make my life unbearable. I don’t want my family to have to witness that and I don’t want that to be the last memory they have of me. So in a way, it’s more personal than some of my other campaigns and I shall have my fingers and toes crossed throughout the debate, hoping for a vote that means future generations will have a far better law than we have had to suffer.” 

Esther on her self-titled BBC Two debate series in 1995 / BBC PR handout

Later on in the programme, hosts Paul Brand and Ranvir Singh also spoke to Actor Liz Carr – who has a rare genetic disorder – live from Westminster as she gave her impassioned response to the bill, which she said poses a risk to disabled people.

She said: “Once we have crossed the line, once Parliament does, if it ever does say ‘okay’, you’re going to change the relationship between the patient and the doctor in the end of life of some people. Once we’ve allowed that, it does get easier in a way to allow it for other groups of people… What we see in other countries is they start out with a bill that’s very tightly constrained and safeguarded just for terminally ill people but once that gets over the line, then it’s almost inevitable that it will extend.” 

She added: “Suffering comes in many forms and Wes Streeting has spoken about this, people who have become terminal because of the delays in diagnosis and treatment [from the NHS], that is suffering.” 

Over to ITV, Esther switches channels for ‘That’s Esther’ from LWT

Speaking to ATV Today Jan Noble, Interim Chief Executive at St Christopher’s hospice, said:

 “As the home of the modern hospice movement, we’re closely following this vote and have been offering our expertise in the area to policymakers over recent months. Although we hold a balanced position, we’re not sitting on the fence. We have long been calling for a wide-reaching debate around this topic. But this national debate must be one that reaches all parts of the country and in addition to discussing what high quality palliative care can offer ”.

“Over the past 18 months we’ve been researching viewpoints of assisted dying within our community. We’ve had a series of in-depth conversations with more than 50 community members exploring their thoughts, fears and views as well as workshops with more than 100 staff and volunteers, to encourage reflection and discussion about their own views.

“This work, some of which we hope to share in the coming months, has told us that the topic is not as polarised as some may believe, and there is opportunity for thoughtful, considered conversations. We again invite all policymakers of any persuasion to get in touch with us and come and see this work first hand and understand the complexities which sit within this debate.”

 St Christopher’s was founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 who started the global hospice movement. The hospice’s vision is of a world in which all dying people, and those close to them, have access to equitable care and support, whenever and wherever they need it.

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