Rantzen Too Fragile for Dignitas as MPs Face Vote

Dame Esther Rantzen, the broadcaster and longtime assisted dying campaigner, has said she is now too physically fragile to travel to Switzerland's Dignitas clinic, despite having paid for the journey and made plans to end her life there. In a statement to the Press Association issued on September 10, 2026, the 86-year-old Childline founder said the window of opportunity closed as her terminal cancer progressed, and that she did not realise at the time it would be her last chance to make the trip. Her admission came one day before MPs were scheduled to vote on the second reading of the Terminally Ill Adults End of Life Bill on September 11, 2026. The bill, reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards, would allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to seek an assisted death, subject to approval from doctors and legal professionals. The legislation has a long parliamentary history. It passed two votes in the House of Commons in 2024 and 2025 but ran out of time in the House of Lords in April 2026, meaning it must now begin the process again.