New Forest-based broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen responds after Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on assisted dying is voted through by MPs

DAME Esther Rantzen said she was “absolutely thrilled” with the result of last Friday’s historic vote for assisted dying, and spoke of future generations being spared the “ordeals” currently suffered.

The New Forest-based broadcaster, who is terminally ill, has been a strong advocate for changing the law to allow dying adults to take their own lives in limited circumstances, without fear of their families being prosecuted for helping them. The 84-year-old revealed in December last year that she had joined Dignitas, to give her the choice of an assisted death in Switzerland.

As reported by the A&T, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was debated in the House of Commons before MPs voted it through 330 to 275.

After the result of the vote, Dame Esther said: “I listened to the debate and it was very deeply felt. Members of Parliament, whether they opposed it or proposed it, had obviously given it a great deal of thought, and right up to the end of the debate, I had no idea whether it would be voted through or not,” she said.

“So I’m absolutely thrilled with the result.”

Dame Esther described Kim Leadbeater’s introduction of her Bill as “extraordinary”, adding: “She has a complete mastery of the facts. She knows exactly which are the most crucial points.

“She put it all very clearly, taking interventions all the way through, and answering them without ever losing the thread of her argument.

“I was lost in admiration. She’s an extraordinary person.

“I was also very moved by the various doctors who took part, who gave painful but important descriptions of the kinds of death people suffer, which cannot be eased by even the best palliative care, and I’m sure their interventions were crucial.”

Dame Esther said Friday’s vote is unlikely to make any impact on her own life.

She said: “It doesn’t really change my situation because it’s going to take probably almost two years for it to change the law, and I’d be astonished if the drug I’m on manages to extend my life that far.”

She said she thinks she will have to go to Dignitas in Switzerland.

“But I will do so in the knowledge that future generations will be spared the ordeals we have to suffer at the moment, as long as the third reading is voted through,” she said.

Dame Esther said that the Bill offers everyone “equal choice”.

When asked what she would say to those who were disappointed by the result of the vote, she said: “Well the point about this Bill is it offers choice and all those who don’t want an assisted death and don’t want to take part in providing assisted dying can opt out of it, don’t have to do it, don’t choose to end their lives that way.

“So it offers everyone equal choice, whatever their religion.”

New Forest East MP Sir Julian Lewis was one of a few given the chance to have a say in the Commons as more than 160 MPs bid to join the debate.

Sir Julian told the Commons he was alarmed by a letter sent to him by Dame Esther in which she said that since the Harold Shipman case, doctors “no longer feel able to” administer painkilling medication which was “the only way to ease human suffering, even if it leads to a speedier death”.

Shipman was estimated to have killed 284 people between 1975 and 1998 by administering fatal doses of drugs or prescribing abnormal amounts.

Sir Julian said that if doctors felt this way “it's imperative it should be reversed”, adding: “This is something positive [which] could come out of the imminent debate.”

Sir Julian voted against, as did New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne and Christchurch MP Sir Christopher Chope.

The Bill now goes to committee stage where MPs can table amendments, before facing further scrutiny and votes in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, meaning any change in the law would not be agreed until next year at the earliest.