Esther Rantzen joins Dignitas saying she would consider Assisted Suicide

Esther Rantzen has said she would consider Assisted Suicide if cancer treatment fails.

Broadcaster and founder of ChildLine has joined the Swiss organisation Dignitas, which offers physician assisted suicide to members with terminal illness or severe physical or mental illness.

Assisted suicide is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The 83-year-old says her cancer progressed to stage four in May of last year, and if current treatment does not help then she might “buzz off to Zurich”.

Speaking on BBC’s The Today Podcast, she told the hosts Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan that doing so would “put my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me. And that means that the police might prosecute them.”

Rantzen is calling on a free vote on assisted suicide in Parliament, saying “it’s important that the law catches up with what the country wants”.

In 2022, the parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee launched an inquiry into the different perspectives on assisted suicide in England and Wales. With the report launching soon, mainstream media is picking up on the debate.