The Childline founder, diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, fears UK assisted dying laws could see her family face police questioning if they accompany her to Switzerland

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Dame Esther Rantzen has been a long-time supporter of assisted dying (Image: BBC)

Campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has expressed that she will have to face death alone, as she does not want her family to be subjected to a police investigation. The founder of Childline was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023 and announced last year that the medication prolonging her life had ceased to be effective.

Esther, who is 85, has been a long-standing advocate for the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK. She has previously implored the House of Lords not to obstruct the assisted dying bill currently progressing through Parliament to allow terminally ill people to end their lives.

The mother-of-three has previously stated her intention to end her life by travelling to Dignitas, the assisted suicide facility in Switzerland, when she has six months or less remaining to live. By the end of 2020, the facility had assisted 3,248 people to d!e in the European country.

In conversation with Matt Chorley on BBC’s Newsnight, Esther revealed that she will have to d!e alone as she cannot bring her family with her to Dignitas. Reports suggest that individuals who accompany loved ones during this process could potentially face police questioning upon their return to the UK, reports the Express.

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Dame Esther Rantzen admits she will ‘d!e alone’ (Image: Getty)

Discussing the heart-wrenching situation, Esther said: “I cannot bear for my own children to go through a police investigation at a time when, inevitably, they will feel loss. I mean they may be bored and tired of me, I’m looking at my son at the moment, by the time my time comes to go to Zurich but I have to go alone.

“I cannot take them with me, I cannot run the risk that they’re put through this terrible process of a police investigation when they would want to remember me well and I would want them to remember me well.” Dame Esther also revealed that she had survived longer than anticipated.

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Dame Esther Rantzen (Image: PA)

However, she explained that she had been informed that, in this respect, she was an “outlier”. She explained: “The problem with me, according to my oncologist, is that I’m an outlier. I’m living longer than he expected me to. Nobody knows why, but the last scan I had, things were improving, in spite of the fact the drugs aren’t working and I’m not being treated anymore.”

The assisted dying bill – also referred to as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – is currently progressing through the House of Lords, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer facing mounting pressure to secure its passage.

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Dame Esther Rantzen wants the assisted dying bill to be passed(Image: Getty)

Whilst the government maintains an officially neutral position on assisted dying, Sir Keir has long advocated for reforming the law in this area. Over 100 Labour MPs have backed a letter, coordinated by MP and former NHS surgeon Peter Prinsley, urging Sir Keir to facilitate the bill’s advancement.

They stated: “A small number of peers have been using procedural tactics to block the Bill in the House of Lords and it now appears very likely that they will prevent it returning to the Commons before the end of this session.

“While we fully respect the government’s neutrality on the principle of assisted dying, we are confident that you would agree with us that we cannot be neutral on the fundamental democratic principle that it is for the elected House of Commons to decide on this matter.

“Our ask is simple. That, whether or not the Bill returns through the Private Members’ Bill ballot after the King’s Speech, time will be found for Parliament to come to a decision in the next session.” Yesterday Holyrood voted against legalising assisted dying.