Dame Esther Rantzen laid to rest after backing assisted dying

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 20 Oct, 01:02 · Archive

Dame Esther Rantzen, the Childline founder, died aged 86 on September 30 after stage four lung cancer, leaving a final message supporting assisted dying.

Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster and Childline founder, died at her New Forest home on September 30, aged 86, following a diagnosis of stage four lung cancer in 2023.

Before her death, Rantzen left a farewell message backing assisted dying. She wrote that the law allowing assistance to die would have 'transformed the way I died if my life had become unbearable'. She said such a law would have infused her final days and weeks with 'hope and confidence of a swift, pain-free death' and prevented her family from witnessing suffering or loss of dignity at the end.

In the message, released after her death, Rantzen said she felt 'deprived of any choice over my own death by the current messy criminal law'. She urged campaigners to 'battle on' to change the law, though noted she was 'sorry that there is not much more I can do to speed it on its way for the sake of other future generations'. Rantzen explained she had been 'too physically frail to take the flight' to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland, despite support from the Dignitas team.

Her daughter Rebecca Wilcox described the funeral as 'incredibly beautiful' and said it was 'hugely comforting to know that people around the world felt the same way about her as we did'.

Dame Esther Rantzen laid to rest after backing assisted dying — Image: Oxford Mail

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Dame Esther Rantzen shares finally message as broadcaster laid to restDame Esther Rantzen's final message backed assisted dying as the Childline founder urged campaigners to battle on after her death on September 30, aged 86.Oxford Mail · 20 Oct, 00:01
Dame Esther Rantzen shares finally message as broadcaster laid to restDame Esther Rantzen's final message backed assisted dying as the Childline founder urged campaigners to battle on after her death on September 30, aged 86.Oxfordshire Guardian · 20 Oct, 00:01

In this story: Dame Esther Rantzen · Rebecca Wilcox · Childline · Dignitas · New Forest · Switzerland

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