Dame Esther Rantzen shares awful issue for family when discussing assisted dying

As she continues to battle terminal lung cancer, Dame Esther Rantzen is considering all of her options, including assisted dying - but her worries for her family are stopping her.

The journalist and TV presenter was diagnosed with the illness in early 2023, announcing months later that her cancer had reached stage four, which prompted her to join the Swiss organisation Dignitas as she contemplates assisted suicide in Switzerland.

But over in the UK, the measure is still illegal according to the Suicide Act, leaving Dame Esther with a dilemma as her trip could leave her family with the possibility of being prosecuted for murder or manslaughter if they were to join and support her.

This Monday, April 29, the former That's Life! host spoke to Good Morning Britain's Susanna Reid about her fears as another debate in Westminster is set to take place in her absence due to her fragile health.

Due to laws in Britain, Dame Esther underlined what danger her loved ones faces if she was due to go through with her trip, saying: "It does mean that if I go to Switzerland, my family can't come with me for fear of being interrogated by the police which is not what you want your family to go through."

However, Dame Esther pointed out that while members of her beloved family may have their hands tied, supportive fans have reached out, ready to jet off with her and be by her side as she draws her last breath. "Among the wonderful messages of support, there are people who say they'd go with me or people who live in Zurich and would meet me off the plane so I don't know, it's really a decision for my family to make," she added. "This whole thing is really to try and save them from a terrible memory."

Dame Esther also revealed that she's lived "considerably longer" thanks to a new drug as she told Susanna: "Fingers crossed." But while she tries to remain optimistic in spite of her condition, her daughter Rebecca Wilcox opened up about her own views on the topic.

Speaking to Susanna and Richard Madeley minutes later, the BBC presenter said: "If it was up to me, I would be there." Sadly, the legal consequences are tough to face. "If I go, I face prosecution, which could take up to two years," she added before pointing out that she could also earn a fourteen-year prison sentence for helping her mother pass away. And to top it all off, her husband James Moss is opposed to letting her go to Switzerland due to the legal ramifications.

Back in February, 2024, Dame Esther let her fans know in a devastating statement that she was living her "last spring." Defending her position towards assisted dying at the time, she said: "I’m watching the spring flowers come out, thinking: ‘This is probably my last spring.’ When I talk to my grandchildren when they come and visit me, I’m very aware these moments are precious. They may be the last memories they have of me."

"My own death is constantly in my mind. It would give me so much confidence if I could also know that however the illness progresses, whatever pain it causes, wherever it strikes me next, I will still have the choices of a pain free, dignified private death surrounded by the people I love."

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