HEARTBREAKING: Esther Rantzen makes END-OF-LIFE plea in rare INTERVIEW as Kate Garraway EMOTIONAL
Terminally ill Dame Esther Rantzen has revealed her current end of life plans in an emotional interview with Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway. The chat came as the legislation for the assisted dying bill will be debated by peers today, Friday September 12. She appealed to the House of Lords not to block the bill giving the terminally ill in England and Wales the right to an assisted d3ath as she admitted she herself is making plans to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland.
Garraway became visibly emotional as the iconic That’s Life presenter, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023, told her: “I’m not afraid of d3ath, but I am, as someone once said, afraid of dying. I’m afraid of dying badly. I’m making arrangements, because it’s the only way I can have an assisted d3ath, to go by myself, to Zurich, to Dignitas. I just wish that I was allowed to say goodbye to my family and for them to see that I have a good d3ath.”
She begged the peers to approve the legislation saying: “Please, House of Lords, give us terminally ill patients the hope, the confidence, the choice that if life gets unbearable, they can ask for help.”
Addressing the issue of how the bill will affect disabled people, who have been vocal about the fact they feel this bill could be used against them if they became a burden Esther insisted this is not the case.
“What makes me sad is that some disabled people think that it will apply to them. Well, it won’t. It can’t unless they’re terminally ill with six months or less to live,” she explained.
The proposed legislation will allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with less than six months to live, to apply for an assisted d3ath.
It would be subject to approval by two doctors and an expert panel, including a psychiatrist, social worker and senior legal figure. The terminally ill person would then take an approved substance. Close to 200 peers have put their names down to speak on the3 issue which breaks the previous record which was held by Brexit.
A majority of peers are expected to back the Bill as it faces the next crucial stage on the way to becoming law, the man leading the process has said.
Lord Charlie Falconer, a long-time supporter of assisted dying and the Bill’s sponsor in parliament’s upper house, told the Daily Express he believes both supporters and opponents are committed to a fair and thorough scrutiny process.
The barrister and former Labour justice secretary under Tony Blair has led several previous attempts to change the law for terminally ill people nearing the end of life.
