Dying Dame Esther praises MPs in crunch assisted dying scrutiny – ‘the system is working’

Dying Dame Esther Rantzen urged MPs to have faith that new safeguards will ensure historic assisted dying laws are the most robust in the world. 

The painstaking process of scrutinising landmark legislation to equip the terminally ill with a legal right to die has started.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, whose watershed Bill would make it legal in England and Wales, has suggested an expert panel rules on applications. This would replace a High Court judge to check each person is eligible and has not been strong-armed into making the decision.

Broadcasting legend Dame Esther, 84, who has stage 4 lung cancer and vociferously campaigned alongside the Express to bring the issue before Parliament, praised the compromise and compassion being shown dealing with a deeply emotive issue.

And in a rallying cry, she urged lawmakers to back the Bill as it progresses towards the statue book. 

Speaking exclusively to the Express she said: “Ms Leadbeater and her committee have made the right decision. They have been taking evidence from experts, including a High Court Judge who said it was unrealistic to believe [a judge like himself] could interview and assess everyone asking for an assisted death. “

The grandmother-of-five added: “Although the process would still be overseen by a current or retired High Court Judge, the actual interview panel they suggest, a lawyer, a psychiatrist and a social worker, would have more experience and expertise and the time to be thorough. This is the legal system working as it should, and I applaud Kim’s commitment to getting this crucial law through Parliament with the correct precautions built in, but still accessible to the terminally ill, which is no easy task given how sensitive this issue is.”

Assisted dying is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting someone’s death can leave a person who does so open to murder or other charges.

Although the landmark move will likely come too late for the former That’s Life! presenter and lifelong campaigner, her dogged determination to give those suffering terminal illnesses a right to die, with legal protection for their families, would mark one of her finest victories. 

Ms Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill a ims to give legal protection to those expected to die within six months who seek help to end their life .

It requires those who want the right to die to be over 18, resident in England and Wales and registered with a GP for at least 12-months, and have the mental capacity to make a “clear, settled and informed” wish, free from coercion or pressure.

In November MPs backed proposals to legalise assisted dying by a majority of 55. 

Currently, the Bill includes the option of doctors referring such a patient to a psychiatrist, but it is not mandatory.

Under Ms Leadbeater’s new proposal, the panel reviewing each application would be chaired by a senior legal figure, but not necessarily a judge, and would also include experts such as psychiatrists and social workers. Their decision could, if necessary, be reviewed by the High Court.

The panels would be chosen by a Voluntary Assisted Dying Commission, led by a High Court judge or senior former judge.

The push to secure a Parliamentary vote was secured after passionate campaigning by Dame Esther who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in January 2023. She is being kept alive by “miracle drugs” but does not expect to live to see the law change. 

As things stand the national treasure, who founded ChildLine, Britain’s first around-the-clock telephone helpline for vulnerable children in 1986 and The Silver Line, a 24/7 service for lonely and isolated OAPs in 2013, is banned from ending her life at home forcing her to join Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas to where she might “buzz off” at any moment. 

She took up the fight to change the law because of an injustice that could potentially make her three children Rebecca, Miriam and Joshua accessories to murder and facing 14-year jail sentences if they were to accompany her on her final journey.

Proposals will be voted on by a committee of MPs scrutinising the Bill. It will then be debated further by the House of Commons and Lords w ith the final version requiring the approval of both before it becomes law.

Asked if the Government had any input into the proposed changes, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve said as the Bill progresses through Parliament, the Government has a responsibility to make sure any legislation that passes through Parliament is effective and enforceable.

“So the Government has provided legal policy and drafting support in the preparation of amendments.

“The amendments seek to give legal and practical effect to the sponsors and Parliament’s attempts, but ultimately it remains a Private Member’s Bill and amendments from the sponsor are a matter for MPs and it will be up to the committee to decide whether to accept each amendment.”

New Zealand and some American states have legalised the right to die, while last year Ecuador and Columbia voted in favour.

The last time MPs had the chance to debate the issue came in 2015, but they voted against reform in a vote lost by 330 to 118.

Tory MP Danny Kruger is one of the leading opponents of the Bill but his mother, Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith, 84, passionately supports reform after watching her brother David die of bone cancer in 2012, saying: “Doing nothing represents a gross abdication of responsibility. There is an inequity at the heart of this debate. If you don’t want an assisted death, you don’t need to have one – you get to have your choice. But I don’t get mine.”

Dame Esther said: “In the Parliamentary debate it was a personal choice, a free vote. And as a result a decision I had hoped for but never dreamed would happen. With carefully crafted built-in safeguards, assisted dying will be legalised.

“I do hope conscientious rigour will prevail. I pray the MPs will stick to the facts, no matter how strong their feelings, and be truthful about the evidence. No more disinformation about ‘slippery slopes’ which simply do not exist in Oregon or Australia where they have laws like our Bill.  No more inventions like ‘personal coercion’ (which I think means we coerce ourselves. I believe that’s normally described as ‘personal choice’.)  

“No more fears that this will damage palliative care. Other countries have proved that it doesn’t. And I hope that palliative care doctors who support the Bill, and I’ve met some, will have the courage to tell their leaders that the time has come to welcome the sudden new spotlight on their work, that this is not a failure on their part, but that assisted dying can be part of a holistic treatment in the last hours of life, if a patient chooses.”

She added: “We have not yet scaled Everest…but the view this close is inspiring.”

Dame Esther’s daughter Rebecca Wilcox, 45, said: “The changes suggested by the committee and Kim Leabeater are absolutely typical of the care and attention to detail that this campaign and Bill have consistently shown. 

“The Bill is still adhering to the strictest safeguards and this latest change is simply further evidence of the committee listening to the expert advice that has been delivered over these past few weeks.  

“The suggestion of a multidisciplinary committee to review each application for an assisted death, on a case by case arrangement, is practical and yet still has safety at its core. 

“The committee are clearly listening to experts and responding. There is no slippery slope here. There are only improvements and safeguards. I urge the MPs to see that this is the compassionate and realistic way forward. 

“This Bill not only has safeguards at its core, but common sense, and I only hope MPs can see that.”