Who. The famous television presenter Esther Rantzen, 83, has reopened the debate on assisted dying in the United Kingdom. That. Suffering from advanced lung cancer, she plans to attend a Dignitas clinic in Zurich if the disease does not subside. Because. For 21 years she presented the program “That’s life!” at the BBC, she is an honorary member of the House of Lords and known for her social activism in defense of children and the elderly.
“That’s life!” (“This is life!”) was the title of the “show” with which Esther Rantzen sneaked into the homes of 18 million Britons for 21 years, one of the BBC’s most successful programs in the seventies and eighty. There she spoke for the first time about organ transplants, “in vitro” fertilization and many other issues that over time ended up being part of her daily life.
Her television adventure culminated in 1994, and from that moment on she led a double life as an activist, first with Childline (in defense of children who suffer abuse) and later with The Silver Line (to combat loneliness among the elderly). For her great social work, she received the title of Dame in 2015 and joined the ancient House of Lords.
Esther Rantzen’s voice and vitality have always had a special appeal among her compatriots, which is why her confession at the age of 83 is going very deep: “I have stage four lung cancer and I am being treated with a “miraculous” cure. …If the next scan shows that it doesn’t work, I may end up making the jump to Zurich.”
“The jump to Zurich” means a visit to the Swiss Dignitas clinic, which facilitates assisted dying for people who “are terminally ill and suffering from unbearable pain or disability,” as long as they make a “reasoned” request. and supported” by a medical diagnosis.
“I don’t want the last memories of my family to be painful, because a bad death can erase all the happy moments from memory,” Esther Rantzen told BBC radio. “I know that my decision puts my family and friends in a difficult situation, because if they wanted to come with me, that will mean that the police could prosecute them.”
“Assisted” suicide is effectively condemned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with sentences of up to 14 years in prison. In Scotland, the laws are somewhat more permissive, and in fact Esther Rantzen is confident that the winds of change will come from the north in the coming months.
The Health Committee of the House of Commons will issue its “verdict” in the coming weeks following the investigation opened in the last year, with testimonies for and against. “Many people in the United Kingdom are experiencing uncontrollable pain and unbearable suffering,” said fellow member of the House of Lords Molly Meacher, head of the organization Dignity in Dying. “These people are simply existing, not living, and we cannot deny them the right to die with dignity.”
On the opposite front, Alistair Thompson, spokesperson for Care Not Killing, warns that the solution lies in “accompanying in life and not in death” and in “reinforcing palliative care” to make the journey more bearable. Thompson assures that in places where it has been legalized, such as Australia, New Zealand, Belgium or several North American states, assisted dying has ended up becoming “a dangerous ideology” that has endangered the lives of the most vulnerable.
The last attempt to “legalize” the practice in the United Kingdom, in 2015, ended in a resounding failure in the House of Commons (330 votes against and 118 in favor). Esther Rantzen attests that the country has changed significantly in recent years, and that the time has come for “politicians to catch up with society.”
The presenter’s daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, joined the debate in an interview on the BBC: “I fully support my mother’s decision, and I believe that I have the right to be by her side in her last moments. It is incomprehensible that We have to find ourselves in this situation, and that I run the risk of ending up in jail simply for accompanying her in her decision.
A Downing Street spokesperson has stressed these days that the Government’s position has not changed. Former Home Secretary Kit Malthouse, who created the multi-party group on “end-of-life choice” in Parliament, has however declared that “the feeling has changed” among Members and that the majority is finally in favor. to reach.
Esther Rantzen is confident that the tables will finally change in 2024, although after the impact her interview has had she has decided to devote herself to her family, aware of how important it is to be able to spend Christmas together: “I didn’t think I would get this far, that “It’s the truth. I’m going to take advantage of these precious moments that may not come again.”