Dame Esther Rantzen fears her kids' memories of her will be ruined as she issues plea

Dame Esther Ranzen has admitted she has fears about her kids' memories of her if her death is long as she opened up on Good Morning Britain about the Assisted Dying Bill

Esther Rantzen spoke on Good Morning Britain today ahead of the MPs debating the Assisted Dying bill in the House of Commons. Esther has joined Dignitas after a terminal lung cancer diagnosis.

Her family could be prosecuted for assisting her death, under current UK law, if they travel out to Switzerland with her. Esther has explained her fears over her kids' memories of her if she has a long death.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain host Paul Brand, she said: "It came out of me disclosing I joined Dignitas and will have to fly to Zurich to have an assisted death if this cancer progresses and starts to make my life unbearable.

"I don’t want my family to have to witness that and I don’t want that to be the last memory they have of me. So in a way, it’s more personal than some of my other campaigns and I shall have my fingers and toes crossed throughout the debate, hoping for a vote that means future generations will have a far better law than we have had to suffer.”

Asked what she would do if the bill wasn't passed, she quipped: "It’s not the kind of law that as a compassionate country, we should have in place. I will go to Dignitas in Zurich for an assisted death which I hope will be quick and kind and merciful and easy. And then, I shall come back and haunt the members of Parliament that haven’t changed our law yet."

On today's show, she also admitted: "What is happening at the moment is compelling people to have really agonising deaths. Someone in agony, with pain - no palliative care can ease - becomes a terribly terribly tragic memory. Overwhelms other happier memories. The law at the moment is a mess, and it's cruel. You'll remember that Sir Keir Starmer said to me that he hoped I would be able to see the debate, but I never thought that was possible."

Esther previously insisted she doesn't want to shorten her life, but only her death. Speaking previously, Esther revealed: "I say I’m not seeking to shorten my life, only my death. And of course it’s about choice. We nowadays can choose if and who we marry, if and when we have children. Surely we have the right to this choice, too.

"It would mean I could look forward with hope and confidence to a good death. Although realistically I don’t expect a new law could be brought in, in time for me. But then my miracle drug has surprised me before, so I suppose it could do it again!"

Earlier this year, Esther admitted she constantly thinks about dying.

"I’m watching the spring flowers come out, thinking: 'This is probably my last spring.' When I talk to my grandchildren when they come and visit me, I’m very aware these moments are precious," she said back in the spring.

"They may be the last memories they have of me," she said, "My own death is constantly in my mind. It would give me so much confidence if I could also know that however the illness progresses, whatever pain it causes, wherever it strikes me next, I will still have the choices of a pain free, dignified private death surrounded by the people I love."

*Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.