TV legend Esther Rantzen, 83, says she may end her life at assisted dying clinic Dignitas after battling cancer
DAME Esther Rantzen has said she will end her life at Dignitas.
The BBC television presenter was told she had stage four terminal cancer in January and and does not know how long she has left.
Speaking on the Today Podcast, Esther, 83, said she did not know how long she had to live.
Esther said: “I have joined Dignitas.
“I have in my brain thought, ‘Well, if the next scan says nothing’s working I might buzz off to Zurich,’ but, you know, it puts my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me.
“And that means that the police might prosecute them.
“So we’ve got to do something.
“At the moment, it’s not really working, is it?”
Opening up about her decision to Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan in the podcast, out today, Esther added: “My family say it’s my decision and my choice.
“I explained to them that actually I don’t want their last memories of me to be painful because if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times and I don’t want that to happen.
“I don’t want to be that sort of victim in their lives.”
The presenter, who hosted long-running BBC consumer show That’s Life! on the BBC until 1994, said she was waiting to have a brain scan and would make up her mind about when she would go to Dignitas after receiving the results.
She said of her mortality: “I didn’t think I would make it to my birthday (June 22).
“I definitely didn’t think I’d make it to this Christmas, which I am, it appears.”
“Though anything can happen; I live in a forest, a tree can fall on me.
“I’ve got to drop off my perch for some reason, and I’m 83 damn it, so I should be jolly grateful and indeed am.”