Dame Prue Leith, the 86-year-old cook and television personality, has revealed that she would like to plan her own death. Speaking at the Hay Literary Festival, she admitted that one of her favourite books discusses 'all the different ways to kill yourself'.
Desire for a Planned Death
Leith stated: 'I'd like to plan my own death. Ideally, like almost everybody, if you asked them how they'd like to die, they'd like to die in their own bed, surrounded by the people they love and at a time and a place of their choice.' She added: 'I was thinking, "How do I do this? How do I kill myself?" Especially because it's not legal here. Suicide is legal, there's nothing to stop me killing myself. But I can't get any help to do it.'
Long-time Campaigner for Assisted Dying
Dame Prue has long campaigned in favour of assisted dying legislation, a stance that her son, Reform MP Danny Kruger, vehemently opposes. She mentioned that her husband bought a book on eBay which 'discusses all the different ways to kill yourself. What's dangerous about them, what the risks are, where it's legal, where it's not legal.'
Reflections on Past Medical Practices
Recalling how terminally ill patients were once treated, she said: 'In the good old days, most doctors would be relied on to just give you a bit too much morphine, and then you'd go into a coma and then you'd fall asleep, and then you wouldn't wake up. That was an assisted death and that's not legal now. It probably wasn't legal then, but it was a nod and a wink.'
Fear of Suffering Like Her Brother
Her comments echo an article she wrote for The Mail on Sunday, in which she admitted death crosses her mind 'several times a day'. She said she feared enduring the same agonising death suffered by her brother David, who died from bone cancer in his seventies. 'I want to save my family having to go through the horrors of watching me die slowly,' she added.
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