Esther Rantzen’s daughter has called on Parliament to vote on assisted dying rules to stop her mother from travelling alone to the ‘horrific’ Dignitas clinic.
The Childline founder, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer earlier this year, revealed she’d joined the assisted dying clinic in Switzerland and would consider going there to end her life should her next scan show she’s getting worse.
Esther’s family and friends could be prosecuted should they decide to join her, which would mean that Esther who is terminally ill faces the possibility of dying alone in an impersonal room.
Rebecca told a newspaper outlet that prisoners get a nicer farewell with their favourite last meal, whereas her mother would go into some strange conveyor belt where you are rushed through a process in an impersonal room without the people that you love because if they go with you they would be arrested.
She said that she wouldn’t be able to go because they would be arrested on landing. That she didn’t want her mother to go. That she didn’t want her to die, and she certainly didn’t want her to go alone.
In 2015, MPs voted against changing the law to let doctors help terminally ill people end their lives, meaning Dame Esther may be forced to go to Switzerland alone.
Rebecca said she wants to be with her mother because Dignitas isn’t a lovely place, and she said that her mum is the worst flier, she gets nervous, she goes to the wrong gate, she always gets delayed, and she said that Dignitas is on an industrial estate, it looks like a box.
Dame Esther has called for a free vote on assisted dying as the law needed to catch up with what the country wants.
She will find out in a few weeks if a new medication she’s been taking is performing its miracle or if it has given up.
Ms Wilcox had earlier told ITV’s Good Morning Britain how her mother, who has also worked as a broadcaster for several years, doesn’t care what anyone else says as she prepared to join her family for what tragically could be her last Christmas.
The Childline founder, who is 83 years old was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer earlier this year, revealed she’s joined the assisted dying clinic in Switzerland and would consider there to end her life should her next scan show she’s getting worse.
Assisted dying is not a decision one makes lightly, but Dame Esther has made her decision, for whatever reason that is.
We don’t choose to come into this world, the decision is made for us by our parents to have a child. The same decision should be made by the person who wants to end their life by assisted dying.
I do hope that Esther gets the good news about her scan, but if not, then her decision should be respected and her family should be permitted to go with her.
Watching a parent die is not for the faint-hearted, and for some, it can be torture to watch.
Animals are given more dignity than human beings when it comes to dying and this shouldn’t be the case. If we still have free will up until the time we die, then it should be our decision to make and not some government that says otherwise.
We don’t allow animals to suffer, but of course, assisted dying needs to be regulated, but why should humans be allowed to suffer?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 