MPs MUST BACK 'CRUCIAL' RIGHT TO DIE LAW

Dame Esther supports ‘precautions' being added to assisted dying bill

- Giles Sheldrick

ESTHER Rantzen has told MPs the right to die law will have the "correct precautions" in place - and so they should back it.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who proposed the landmark bill, has suggested a panel of experts should rule on right to die applications rather than a single High Court judge.

Last night broadcasting legend Dame Esther, 84, who has stage four lung cancer, backed the politician's search for the best safeguards in legalising assisted dying.

She said: "I applaud Kim's commitment to getting this crucial law through Parliament with the correct precautions built in, but still accessible to the terminally ill which is no easy task given how sensitive this issue is." Dame Esther, who campaigned alongside the Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade to have the issue raised in Parliament, continued: "Ms Leadbeater and her committee have made the right decision.

"They have been taking evidence from experts, including a High Court judge who said it was unrealistic to believe [a judge like himself] could interview and assess everyone."

The grandmother-of-five added: "Although the process would still be overseen by a current or retired High Court judge, the actual interview panel they suggest a lawyer, a psychiatrist and a social worker - would have more experience and expertise and the time to be thorough.

"This is the legal system working as it should."

Assisted dying is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland it is not a specific criminal offence, but assisting a death can leave a person open to murder charges.

Although the reform will likely come too late for the former That's Life! host and lifelong campaigner, Dame Esther's determination to give the terminally ill a right to die, with legal protection for their families, would be one of her finest victories.