Assisted dying should be legalised but I don’t know if I would choose it, says TV star Sue Johnston
The Royle Family TV sitcom star Sue Johnston says that assisted dying should be legalised, although she may not personally choose the option.
Ms Johnston, 80, who also starred in the TV soap opera Brookside among many roles, is one of the latest prominent figures to speak out in favour of changing the law to allow the terminally ill to end their lives.
She said that much like putting sick pets out of their misery, assisted dying would be a way to spare people from suffering.
She warned, however, that any legal changes could be exploited to “get rid of people” and insisted that strict safeguards would be necessary.
Speaking to Saga magazine, she said: “I think it’s an option that people should be able to have. It’s their life, their choice.
“I don’t know whether I’d want it myself, but then I’m not in a position where life is intolerable,
“Of course, people can be ruthless and they may take advantage of a change in law to get rid of people, so it would all have to be safeguarded. But it would be, there’d be laws.”
She said: “I have animals and when they’re in terrible pain, we put them to sleep. It’s heartbreaking but we do it for their sake, because we want to spare them the suffering.”
Warning of sinister euthanasia lobby’s deadly agenda
Ms Johnston said her German Shepherd Betsy was recently put down as “she was just in such agony”, adding: “It’s painful saying goodbye to your pets and we wonder why we put ourselves through that.”
The actress’ comments come after the revelation that the late Dame Diana Rigg wanted the option to end her life while suffering through cancer, and supported a legislative change to make such an option legal.
The Avengers star became one of a string of celebrities who have pledged their support to the cause of legislative change on the issue, with Hugh Grant, Sir Patrick Stewart, Eric Idle, Sir Terry Practhett and Bake Off’s Prue Leith all having at one time signed petitions calling for changes to the law
Actress Susan Hampshire, who gave up acting to care for her dying husband and two older sisters, has similarly urged MPs to rewrite laws that ban assisted dying.
The star of The Forsyte Saga and Monarch of the Glen said that a “democratic, civilised” country would allow conscientious clinicians to intervene at the end of life, saying: “I have witnessed, hour by hour and minute by minute, my loved ones’ wishes for a dignified end being denied.”
Dame Esther Rantzen has also called for a Parliamentary vote on the issue, amid a growing debate about assisted dying in the UK.
A Private Member’s Bill introduced by Lady Meacher failed when it was not given time to be read by MPs in 2022, but in 2015 the Commons voted overwhelmingly against a Bill which would have allowed doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives.
The Rt Rev Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, has warned of making concessions to a “sinister euthanasia lobby” pushing “a deadly agenda”.
