Esther: I am rapidly running out of time

DAME Esther Rantzen says she may not have long to live as she urges the Lords to stop sabotaging the assisted dying bill.

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The broadcaster, who has terminal lung cancer, plans to go to Dignitas to end her life if the pain gets too much.

Yet with her body failing her and as death nears, the 85-year-old campaigner is still fighting to change the law not for her own sake, but for countless others.

Esther, who founded Childline in 1986, says: "I am still planning to go alone to Dignitas if my life becomes unbearable.

"Even if the new bill became law, it could not apply to me because I am rapidly running out of time.

"But I really feel our lawmakers will be letting down generations of terminally ill patients in the future if they fail to reform the current cruel, messy, criminal law."

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was passed by MPs in June but has stalled in the Lords, where a handful of peers have tabled more than 1,000 amendments. The bill will fail if it is not given final assent before the King’s Speech in May.

Opponents believe the legislation is unsafe, particularly for vulnerable people, and needs extensive amending before it could become law.

Dignitas clinic near Zurich, Switzerland Esther says: "I am profoundly disappointed by the filibustering and unashamed sabotage going on in the House of Lords.