Dame Esther Rantzen has made a deeply emotional appeal as the House of Lords prepares to debate the Assisted Dying Bill, admitting she is “not afraid of death, but afraid of dying badly.”
The 85-year-old broadcaster, diagnosed with lung cancer in 2023, has become one of the UK’s most outspoken voices in the campaign to legalise assisted dying. Despite tireless efforts, Esther revealed that the bill in its current form does not apply to her circumstances. Instead, she has been making arrangements that may involve travelling to Zurich’s Dignitas clinic alone, without her family by her side.
Speaking to Kate Garraway in a pre-recorded interview on Good Morning Britain, Esther said: “I’m making arrangements because it’s the only way I can have an assisted death, to go by myself to Zurich, to Dignitas. I just wish I’m allowed to say goodbye to my family and for them to see that I have a good death.”
Esther, mother to three children and grandmother to several, pleaded with the Lords to “give us terminally ill patients the hope, the choice that if life gets unbearable – we can ask for help.”
Campaign group Dignity in Dying described today’s debate as “unprecedented,” stressing that never before has an assisted dying bill come this far in Westminster. They argue the law must reflect compassion, dignity, and choice. Meanwhile, critics such as Care Not Killing continue to insist that the UK should instead strengthen palliative care, pointing out that a quarter of cancer patients do not receive the care they need.
For Esther, the battle is not about politics but humanity. “What makes me sad,” she explained, “is the idea that people might misinterpret this law. It doesn’t apply to the disabled, unless they’re terminally ill with six months left to live. This is about choice, not fear.”
As the Lords gather for the historic second reading, Esther’s words hang heavy: a plea for dignity, for control, and for the chance to say goodbye on her own terms.
