Esther Rantzen's new treatment is not death!

Most in the British Isles know Esther from her TV days. Many also know that she is supporting the legalization of Assisted Suicide in the UK because she is suffering from Stage IV lung cancer.

Esther is a member of Dignitas in Switzerland and can afford to go there, but complains that her family might be prosecuted if they go with her. (In practicality, that is highly unlikely.)

Esther obviously has a…different view of killing herself:

'I'm meeting my late husband, my departed dog and my mother at the pearly gates. Hold up my hand for an injection or open my mouth for a rather disgusting medication.'

…not sure which gates she’ll be knocking on.

Now, she is on a new treatment which has extended her life and is helping her to feel much better so she has deferred the one-way trip to Switzerland. This just goes to show that if AS was available and she had topped herself a year ago, Esther would be missing out on this new lease of LIFE (from proper palliation.)

As Dr. Rachel Ruddy commented, this is “another example of how difficult it is to predict time to death and how assisted dying could rob people of valuable time with family.”

What a curious turn of events.

Kevin Hay

Kevin is on X (formerly Twitter) @kevinhay77