Dame Esther Rantzen is too poorly to end her life at Dignitas, her daughter says.
The terminally ill presenter, 84, has tirelessly campaigned to legalise assisted dying since receiving a lung cancer diagnosis in 2023. But in a heartbreaking update, her daughter Rebecca Wilcox has revealed her mum is too unwell to travel to the Swiss clinic.
She told 5 News: “Frankly Dignitas is out of the window for us. You have to be relatively healthy to do that. If she had gone, she would have gone months before she would have died here.”
The presenter, 84, is too ill to travel to Switzerland to end her life(Image: PA)
The news comes days after Labour’s Kim Leadbeater agreed to delay the introduction of the assisted dying Bill until 2029. Reacting to the delay, Rebecca said: “I just wish that people understood that all the assisted dying Bill is, is a choice for people that want it. All it is is giving you peace of mind, I cannot tell you how powerful that would be right now for my mum.
“She is a person who has fought her whole life for other people, and she has no control now. Why can’t we give people like my mum with a terminal diagnosis, with no other choice, some choice as to when and how and where they die!?”
Daughter Rebecca Wilcox says her mum should have the right to choose when and how she dies(Image: PA)
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK and punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Several other high-profile campaigners like the Bake Off’s Prue Leith and Jonathan Dimbleby have called for a change to the law.
Dame Esther began her career as a sound effects assistant on BBC radio, before becoming a researcher on several shows. She started presenting the consumer show That’s Life! in 1973 and became one of the most recognised faces on telly. She also founded Charity Childline in 1986, which has since helped thousands of youngsters with bullying and abuse.
