The 79-year-old actress said she supports the MPs’ support of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which will be introduced in the Lords this fall.
Actress Dame Joanna Lumley has spoken out in favour of assisted dying, saying she would not want to carry on if she couldn’t talk or eat or recognise her loved ones.
The 79-year-old actress said she supports the MPs’ support of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which will be introduced in the Lords this fall.. The new law would allow terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to apply for an assisted death.
Asked about the bill in an interview with Saga Magazine, Dame Joanna, best known for her role as Patsy in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, said: “People are terribly anxious about it and think one may be coerced. But I’m saying this now, when nobody’s coercing me – don’t let me turn into somebody who doesn’t recognise the people I love most, where I’m having a miserable time. When I get to the stage where I can’t speak and have to be fed, that won’t be me any more – and that’s when I wouldn’t mind saying farewell.”
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TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen, 85, who has terminal cancer, is being supported by her daughter Rebecca Wilcox, one of the bill’s most prominent supporters. Recently, Esther urged Lords to refrain from enforcing any opposition to the legislation.
Campaigners, including Louise Shackleton, have praised Dame Joanna’s support. After revealing her own guilt to police for accompanying her husband Anthony, 59, to the Swiss charity Dignitas, she is being investigated. Anthony, who had motor neurone disease, made the decision to end his life in December, with the aid of Dignitas.
Louise, 58, from North Yorkshire, told the Mirror how she would be burying his ashes today. She said: “Monday is my husband’s 60th birthday and it’s the day we lay him to rest.
He would have been shocked that a star with such a large voice has spoken out. On behalf of other campaigners, I want to thank Joanna for having the guts to speak out and to represent the vast majority of people who support what she is saying without using her platform.
Louise expressed hope that the Lords would pass the bill. She hoped that progress will be measured, educated, and centered on the community.
According to Dignity in Dying CEO Sarah Wootton, “Dame Joanna’s comments demonstrate that she supports assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults, which gives dying people the power to choose how they die.” People want to know that they can ask for a peaceful, secure assisted death when they are in need of it.
We urge the Lords to speak with the public, bereaved individuals, and those who are in need.
However, opponents are present in the bill. Following the most recent vote, Care Not Killing CEO Gordon Macdonald declared: “This is a deeply flawed and dangerous bill that fails to protect vulnerable and disabled people from coercion.”
However, Louise responded, “The bill does not apply to people with anorexia, the elderly, or those with terminal illnesses who have no more than six months to live,” and that includes them.
Source: Mirror
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