SILENT WITNESS STAR ON WHY ESTHER RANTZEN IS WRONG ABOUT EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

Silent Witness star Liz Carr has authored a BBC documentary on assisted suicide called Better Off Dead? exploring the often overlooked dangers of assisted suicide. Liz fears that any law on assisted suicide would be unsafe - especially for those who are disabled, or who might feel they are a burden for loved ones.

“It scares me that it feels like the majority of people think assisted suicide is a really good idea,” says Liz. “I don’t think we’re hearing about other viewpoints. There are a lot of people who have fears. Looking at where we’re going in society at the moment, recent comments about benefits and disabled people, is this really the right time to be offering death as a solution?” she asks.

Since receiving a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer last year, Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, has campaigned for assisted dying in the UK. The TV presenter argues that if we can offer euthanasia for pets, we should offer it to humans, saying, “We offer our beloved pets a pain-free death and we can’t offer it to our beloved family.”

It’s an analogy that Liz disagrees with, claiming that many animals are put down to save money, something she fears would happen to humans. “There are considerable numbers of healthy pets that are euthanised because they cost too much, because they’re inconvenient, because they’re badly behaved, because they’re not wanted, because they’re a burden,” she says. “These are the exact reasons why I’m afraid.”

The petition recently debated in Parliament argued that “terminally ill people who are mentally sound and near the end of their lives should not suffer unbearably against their will”.

However, Liz fears that should assisted dying become legal, the law will widen to include those who are not terminally ill but who are suffering, as has happened in Canada and elsewhere. “Ultimately, as soon as you have a definition, based on suffering, then I become a possible target for that law,” says Liz. “As does pretty much any disabled person.”

Recommendations by a Canadian Parliamentary committee have included widening the law to include children over 12. That is chilling for Liz, who discovers from her mother’s diaries from the 1980s that she talked about wanting to die as a 12-year-old. “Sometimes we need to be protected from ourselves,” she says.

Campaigners argue the law would have safeguards. Liz is a supporter of the NHS, but says that many people’s difficulties in accessing even routine medical help mean any law on assisted suicide could never be safe. “Think about your local GP,” urges Liz. “Can you get an appointment? This is death. Somebody dies, and there could be mistakes. And the mistake is a life that we shouldn’t have lost.”

Liz is bracing herself to face criticism when the documentary airs, because assisted dying is such a deeply emotive subject.

“It’s frightening because of the polarisation of views,” she says. “If you take a different view, you are therefore the enemy. I am afraid of that, but not afraid enough that I wouldn’t take the opportunity to do this. I don’t think a good death equals legalising assisted suicide.”

Better Off Dead? airs on Tuesday 14 May, 9pm, on BBC One and iPlayer

2024-05-07T10:06:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd