Dame Esther Rantzen shares a message for MPs ahead of the assisted dying vote, telling them to choose according to their conscience. Report by Chinnianl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00What what do you think this vote is going to be?
00:03I think predictions have been proved to be fallible, have they not?
00:09Every time anyone does a survey or a guess on any election or any vote, it always turns out to be wrong.
00:16So I've no idea. I've no idea, Jeremy.
00:20It's interesting, you will have seen though,
00:22leaving the MPs aside, that the public have definitely moved, haven't they, in the last 20 years or so.
00:30Yes, although I'm afraid, as long as I have been interested in this subject, and I made a program
00:37called How to Have a Good Death back in
00:40around 2002, I think it was,
00:43even then the public were in favor of assisted dying.
00:46I think the trouble is that we ordinary people have come across
00:53agonizing deaths where the symptoms can't be relieved, even with the best palliative care.
00:59So we know that there are times when life becomes
01:03unbearable, and what you want to do is shorten your death. And that's what this vote is about.
01:11We went through some of the provisions in the bill.
01:13It is very tight, and I don't know whether, as things stand at the moment, Esther, you would qualify for an assisted death.
01:21It won't ever apply to me, Jeremy, because
01:25the whole process will take about two years before it becomes law, and
01:31you know, miracle drug or no miracle drug, I'm very unlikely to have two years in me. So
01:37I'm afraid Dignitas in Switzerland is the only way I can have an assisted death.
01:43And are you making plans for that?
01:49Not actually at the moment. At the moment, I'm making plans for Christmas.
01:55But if the scan turns out to be bad news in the new year, I suppose I'll have to.
02:01So what's your message then to MPs today, Esther?
02:05My message to MPs is this is your choice.
02:10I'm not going to say vote one way or the other because I believe in choice.
02:15And choice is what this bill is about, giving me the choice to shorten my own death,
02:23giving you the same choice. So how you vote is up to your conscience.
02:28But obviously, for some of us, it's a very, very real and immediate decision.
02:34And we're hoping that it goes the right way.
02:37If it doesn't, would you think there's a case for a referendum on it?
02:43Referendums are brilliant, aren't they?
02:45They bring people together and they're such a good idea and you get wonderful results.
02:50Thank you. Kind offer, but no, I think.