Esther Rantzen’s tearful daughter pauses interview as she pleads for MPs to ‘see sense’ on assisted dying

Esther Rantzen's daughter fights back tears over mother's prognosis as Assisted Dying bill debatedPA

Transcript

00:00And I'm just hoping that the MPs today see common sense.

00:04That we should have choice at the end of our lives.

00:07We should be able to have a pain-free, caring, compassionate death.

00:11I only wish I could get that from my mother.

00:14And I know that the peace of mind that would come with that would be huge.

00:19Because that's what's missing from her life at the moment.

00:22She has no idea what's coming around the corner.

00:24She has no idea how her body is going to respond to the cancer that is...

00:32I'm really sorry. Hold on.

00:43Sorry, sorry.

00:47Mum is watching this today. Mum is behind this 110%.

00:52You can tell that I can't do maths.

00:53But she has supported this campaign from the get-go.

00:58She believes in choice at the end of our lives.

01:00She believes in compassion and kindness.

01:02She has campaigned for that in various forms.

01:04She's campaigned for that for children.

01:06She's campaigned for that for old people.

01:07Now, this campaign is about the end of our lives.

01:11It's not about the end of her life.

01:12This will never come into effect to help us.

01:14This is about the future generations who are facing a painful, cruel, messy death.

01:20Or the other choice is to spend thousands of pounds going off to Dignitas.

01:24That's not available for everybody.

01:26That's £15,000 most people don't have.

01:29That's the risk of prosecution.

01:30The risk of facing criminal action when you get home with your loved ones.

01:34The other thing that we're facing is that if she has a traumatic death, how is that going to affect us?

01:39How is that going to affect her five grandchildren?

01:41I don't want them to witness that.

01:45I don't want to witness that.

01:46She doesn't want us to witness that.

01:47She's terrified that our memories of her, and they are such good memories, would be destroyed by a bad death.

01:56And so she's asking for choice for everybody.

01:59Unfortunately, it won't be in time for her.