Joanna Lumley has opened up about her thoughts when it comes to the assisted dying bill in the UK.
The 79-year-old star has revealed in a new interview that she would consider voluntary euthanasia if she were unable to look after herself.
‘People are terribly anxious about it and think one may be coerced (into voluntary euthanasia),’ she said when asked about the bill in an interview with Saga magazine.
‘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.
She added that she felt if she were unable to communicate or feed herself, it could be time to go.
‘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.’
The Terminally Ill Adults (end of life) Bill – also known as the Assisted Dying Bill was backed by MPs in the House of Commons last month.
The bill would allow terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death.
It would mean that those wishing to die with assisted dying would need to get approval from two doctors, and a panel of experts including a social worker, psychiatrist and senior legal figure.
The House of Lords is set to debate and vote on the bill in the next stage of passing it.
Dame Ester Rantzen, who has terminal cancer, has been one of the high-profile backers of the new bill and has urged members of the House of Lords not to block the legislation.
Dame Joanna has now spoken about her mortality before, saying that she doesn’t want to look back and feel she’s wasted her time.
‘As you near the top of the hill, you suddenly think, “Gosh, there’s not all that amount of time left”,’ she said.
‘My time must be coming quite soon, and I don’t want to have wasted a minute of being on this beautiful planet.’
Speaking to My Weekly, she also urged young people to worry less, adding: ‘I used to panic when I was young, but as I’ve got older, I’ve started literally to live day to day.
‘With age, you work out what matters. I always knew that good stuff would come along when I was older. When I was 18, I longed to be 30. When I was 30, I longed to be 50. We mustn’t be led into thinking getting old is bad. Growing old is good.’
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