Dame Prue Leith yesterday spoke about her support for assisted dying following the loss of her brother to bone cancer while in “incredible pain”. The Great British Bake Off judge, 82, is now one of the foremost campaigners for a change in the law after the death of David in 2012 aged 74.
She said: “It was the most horrible death, it went on for weeks and he was begging to be allowed to die, and couldn’t he have some more morphine.
He was just in incredible pain.”
Dame Prue said she would want the choice to end her life if she faced weeks or months of misery.
She added: “I’m very conscious that I’ve had a wonderful life, I’ve had a fantastic life. I don’t want to end it with three weeks or three months of enormous pain and misery, not just for me but for my family and everyone around me.”
However, her beliefs put her in direct conflict with her son, Conservative MP Danny Kruger, who disagrees with her on the controversial issue.
The MP for Devizes, in Wiltshire, chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well, which is against legalising assisted dying.
The pair have made a documentary, Prue And Danny’s Death Road Trip in which they travel to North America, where assisted suicide is legal in some areas.
Dame Prue, who is patron of Dignity In Dying, which campaigns for a change in the law, described the debate as “very unfair”.
She said: “Nobody’s forcing anybody to take it, it’s an option. What we’re asking is for people to have the choice.
“I’m not asking anyone who has principles that prevent them from wanting to end their lives, of course they don’t have to.”
The Daily Express’s Give Us Our Last Rights campaign is backing a change in the law to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults expected to die within six months.
A YouGov poll found around two-thirds of people support assisted dying for the terminally ill.
- Prue And Danny’s Death Road Trip is on Channel 4 on Thursday at 9pm.
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