EXCLUSIVE: Dame Esther Rantzen became one of the most prominent public figures advocating for the reform of assisted dying legislation, and Dignity in Dying won’t stop fighting for her
The organisation that worked alongside fearless Esther Rantzen to campaign for a change in the law and allow terminally ill people control of their own deaths says they will not rest until her wishes are honoured.
The death of the pioneering presenter, one of the most recognisable figures on British television for decades, was announced last night. Esther established charities to help the young and old, and in recent years became a prominent voice in the attempt legalise assisted dying in England and Wales.
There was brutal heartbreak just weeks before the cherished Childline founder’s family said goodbye. MPs last month torpedoed the move she backed until her final days, a blow to campaigners who have long battled for the right to allow adults with fewer than six months to live to apply to be given help to end their own life, subject to safeguards.
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Dignity in Dying has been central to the campaign for more choice, greater control and access to medical and palliative services.
Dame Esther was an integral part of their movement, which they say is simply delayed and not defeated and they plan to make sure the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is back on Parliament’s agenda in the near future.
Their two-year push to change the law is not over, they say, and the champion of consumer rights’ suffering only strengthens their resolve.
Ellie Ball, director of communications at Dignity in Dying, told the Mirror: “Part of the reason Dame Esther was such a force was because she fought for the people throughout her life.
“She would see injustice and not sit back. She would do something about it, and that is why she has a place in millions of hearts.
“She knew she wouldn’t live to benefit from the campaign. But selflessly, she wanted to make sure others could. I hope she knew what she achieved, and that when we do win she will be front and centre in the history books. It’s an amazing legacy.
“In Dame Esther’s memory, and in the memory of too many others who have died while fighting for choice, we will not rest until dying people in this country finally have the choice and protection they want and need.
“She spoke bravely about her experience and her family’s own pain, but only so that those without a public voice could be heard. She used her platform to speak truth to power and gave a voice to so many other terminally ill and bereaved people across the country.
“We owe Dame Esther and her daughter Rebecca Wilcox a huge debt of gratitude.”
She openly discussed her plan to “buzz off to Zurich” to have an assisted death at Dignitas and criticised the “messy and cruel” law in England and Wales which would criminalise loved ones who tried to help.
But in September, ahead of a vote by MPs which would see efforts to legalise assisted dying defeated in Parliament, Dame Esther shared that it was now too late for her to travel, as she had become “too physically fragile to make the journey”.
She told of her anguish at loved ones seeing her “suffering pain or indignity” while she received end-of-life care and expressed sadness when the assisted dying Bill fell – branding it a “tragic day”.
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