Esther Rantzen's Dignitas wish that could lead to daughter's arrest for manslaughter

Dame Esther Rantzen, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, had been campaigning for assisted dying in the UK

Dame Esther Rantzen had one major fear for her family after joining Dignitas, a Swiss non-profit organization providing physician-assisted suicide to members with terminal illness or severe physical or mental illness. She joined the non-profit for assisted dying after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer..

The star had been campaigning to change the laws in the UK since revealing last December that she had joined Dignitas. The veteran broadcaster and journalist found a lump under her armpit after feeling tired over the Christmas period in December 2022. Just weeks later, a biopsy confirmed she had stage four lung cancer.

After months of campaigning for the Assisted Dying Bill, which is being debated by Parliament as it's currently illegal in the UK, her daughter revealed she is no longer responding to her medication. When asked about the medication that was believed to improve Esther's condition, Rebecca Wilcox "I really wish that was true. I don’t think that’s the case anymore."

Dame Esther and Rebecca had been open about their Dignitas wishes but feared the repercussions on Dame Esther's family if they were to travel to Switzerland for it. As assisted dying is currently illegal in the UK, with law changes possibly taking years to be implemented, her family could get into serious trouble if they accompanied Dame Esther. The star would have to travel to die alone.

"My family could be prosecuted if I go," she said previously. Rebecca also discussed the difficult situation she was placed in as she detailed her struggles in Saga magazine.

Rebecca said: “If she goes – at the moment it would be her only option for an assisted death – she will have to go alone. It is against the law to accompany her. I would face ­prosecution for manslaughter and could receive up to 14 years in prison.

“Even if it doesn’t go to trial, many people face a two-year investigation. I have a young family with two children, a busy home and a complex job. I shouldn’t have to risk going to prison just to keep mum company, but I’m not sure I could let her go alone.

“It’s an impossible decision to have to make: either risk possible prosecution at the worst time of my life, when I have just lost my adored mum, or do the unthinkable and let her die alone in a foreign country with no one she knows or loves to hold her hand.”

Over the months, Dame Esther has urged people to write to their MPs about voting for change when it comes to assisted dying. She said she just wanted 'the right to choose, not to shorten our lives, but to shorten our deaths'.

In an emotional statement shared earlier this year, the Childline founder called the current laws "cruel" as she explained how her own death was "constantly in my mind".

"I’m watching the spring flowers come out, thinking: 'This is probably my last spring.' When I talk to my grandchildren when they come and visit me, I’m very aware these moments are precious," she said.

"They may be the last memories they have of me," she added. "My own death is constantly in my mind. It would give me so much confidence if I could also know that however the illness progresses, whatever pain it causes, wherever it strikes me next, I will still have the choices of a pain free, dignified private death surrounded by the people I love."

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