Brenna Cooper
Miriam Margolyes has shared her thoughts on assisted dying during a sobering new update on her health.
The comedian and Harry Potter actor has spoken candidly about her health in the past couple of years, explaining that she often worries about being able to afford adequate care when she retires and regrets having a 'lack of discipline' when it came to some of her lifestyle choices.
More recently, the Call the Midwife actor explained that she was fearful she 'might die' when faced with the prospect of having a second knee replacement.
"I will not have any more operations," she said on the podcast Bedside Manners back in May.
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"I am vulnerable now, and I don't think I would survive an operation, so I'm not having one."
The 84-year-old painted a frank picture about her future in a new interview with The Daily Mail, Margolyes revealed a scenario in which she'd be in support of assisted dying.
"I don’t want to go through a slowly diminishing period of pain and embarrassment," she said.
"If a stroke meant I couldn’t speak, or I was doubly incontinent, or I lost my mind completely, I would ask to be put down. That’s because I want to be who I am. I don’t want to be less than I can be."
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Assisted dying is not currently legal in the UK, however the British Parliament is currently progressing the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which MPs voted through with a majority of 23 back in June.
Should the bill be signed into law, terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months in England and Wales would be allowed to legally end their lives.
Margolyes is also a patron of assisted dying group My Death My Decision, which advocates for the legalisation of assisted dying.
Elsewhere in the interview, the actor went on to reveal her regrets about not leading an active lifestyle from a younger age, admitting that she felt like she'd 'let my body down'.
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The actor was previously diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a condition which causes a narrowing of the spinal canal, impacting her ability to walk, as well as osteoarthritis. She also underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation surgery a few years back to resolve heart issues.
"I haven’t taken care of it. I have to walk with a walker now," she said.
"I wish I’d done exercise. It’s the most ghastly waste of time, except that it keeps you going. So, I’m foolish."