Suicide Clinic Helping Grieving Mother Die Promotes Death-on-Demand

This article was published by National Review online on April 23, 2026.

Wesley Smith

By Wesley J Smith

A grieving mother who is in good health has been accepted for termination by a Swiss suicide clinic. From the New York Post story:

A physically healthy British woman heartbroken over the death of her only son is heading to Switzerland to end her own life at an assisted suicide clinic.

Wendy Duffy, 56, attempted to take her own life after her son died four years ago — but is soon bound for Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, after her application was accepted by a clinic, according to the London Times.

Duffy, a former care worker from the West Midlands, told the Daily Mail that she paid Pegasos, a Swiss assisted-dying nonprofit organization, $13,500 to euthanize herself under its care, saying suicide is the only way her “spirit can be free.”

Thirteen grand! A lot of money is being made by Swiss suicide clinics accommodating the death desires of despairing people.

Suicide is becoming romanticized:

She’s already chosen what she will wear on her deathbed and told the Daily Mail that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With A Smile” will be playing as she passes on. Once she’s dead, she’s requested that all the belongings she brought with her be donated.

The consequences of legalizing assisted suicide are finally becoming unequivocal. We follow roads where they lead. Once we declare that facilitated death is an acceptable answer to suffering, there is no way to limit the causes of suffering that qualify one to be made dead. If it’s okay for a cancer patient, why not also a grieving mother, the owner of a business that collapsed, a bored elderly person “tired of life,” or someone struggling with mental illness?

This is why euthanasia laws always expand over time. Indeed, after decades of the promotion of “death with dignity,” we are becoming desensitized to the carnage. We are well on the way to determining that assisted suicide is a fundamental human right — as courts in Germany and Estonia have already ruled.

Can we finally agree that the issue is ultimately about whether we want to empower a death-on-demand culture? If that is what we want, at least be honest about it. If not, it seems to me the only defense is to refuse assisted-suicide legalization, regardless of the cause. Otherwise, institutionalized suicide’s triumph is only a matter of time.

Irish woman learns about mother's assisted suicide death through WhatsApp

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Eliana Nunes reported for the Sun (UK) on August 5, 2025 that An Irish family was left devastated after allegedly receiving a text from a Swiss assisted dying clinic that their mum was dead and her ashes would be sent by post.

As reported in the Sun:

Maureen Slough, a 58-year-old from Cavan, travelled to the Pegasos clinic on July 8 to seek an assisted death - without her family's knowledge - according to the Irish Independent. 

Maureen reportedly told her family that she and a friend were going to Lithuania.

Her partner, Mick Lynch didn't even know about her impending death. The report states: 

"I was actually talking to her that morning and she was full of life,"

"She said after having her breakfast... she was going out to sit in the sun. Maybe she was heading off to that place. I still thought she was coming home."

Maureen and Megan

The report indicated that her daughter, Megan Royal, received a WhatsApp message from the suicide clinic stating that her mother had died while listening to gospel music by Elvis Presley. The report continued:

The family is shocked that the clinic would accept an application for assisted dying from Maureen, who they say had long struggled with mental illness.

She had also attempted suicide a year prior, after the deaths of her two sisters, according to the family.

Adding to their dismay, the family claims the clinic never informed them of her plans.

Friends are reportedly horrified by the clinic's method of returning the ashes via parcel post.

The report indicated that the family found out Maureen had paid a reported £13,000 to the Pegasos Swiss Association to assist her death.

The report also indicated that there is a dispute about communication. Pegasus claims that Megan (Maureen's daughter) sent a letter to Pegasos accepting her mother's death plan and confirmed it by email. Megan stated that the letter and email were fake.

The report stated that: 

Maureen's brother wants the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, along with Swiss authorities, to conduct an investigation.

"I am working on the assumption that my sister created this email and the clinic’s procedures were woefully inadequate in verification," he wrote.

"The Pegasos clinic has faced numerous criticisms in the UK for their practices with British nationals, and the circumstances in which my sister took her life are highly questionable."

Pegasos claims that they carried out an extensive assessment of Maureen's mental health - including an independent psychiatric evaluation. Pegasos also claims that: Maureen told the clinic she was in unbearable and unrelievable chronic pain and that they received supporting medical documentation from her pain-management consultant.

The report concluded with:

Maureen's family's story is not unique.

Other families have also hit out at Pegasos, claiming they were left in the dark about their loved ones’ plans to go through with assisted deaths.

In 2023, Pegasos reportedly vowed to contact a person's relatives beforehand after 47-year-old teacher Alistair Hamilton - who had no diagnosed illness - died, leaving his family shocked.

However, in 2025, the organisation appeared to break this promise.

Anne Canning, a 51-year-old British mum, who was battling depression after the sudden death of her son 19 months prior, ended her life at the clinic, ITV reported.

Previous articles concerning the Pegasos suicide clinic:

• Swiss assisted suicide clinic facing lawsuit and questions concerning foreign suicides (Link). 
• A mother's warning about the death of her son by assisted suicide in Switzerland (Link). 
• Euthanasia activist, Sean Davison, arrested in London England concerning the death of a 79-year-old woman (Link).
• Swiss assisted suicide clinic's many controversial deaths (Link). 
• My husbands death made me more opposed to assisted suicide (Link).
• Swiss study: Legalizing assisted suicide does not lessen the number of common suicides (Link).

Swiss canton cuts a deal with suicide group.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article by Marc Leutenegger that was published by Swissinfo.ch on February 21, 2025 states that the Swiss Canton Solothurn has cut a deal with the Pegasus assisted suicide group that will save money for the Canton by eliminating the need for the authorities to send a legal and medical team to investigate the death. Leutenegger reported that:

..the core of an agreement, unprecedented in Switzerland, that was signed late last year between canton Solothurn and the right-to-die organisation Pegasos. Under the new arrangement, if Pegasos provides video evidence that the suicide was carried out by the person themselves, as well as additional information, then the authorities do not send in a legal and medical team to investigate the death.

The agreement will make it easier for Pegasos and reduce the cost for the Canton. Leutenegger reported:

This reduces the costs of the post-mortem investigation to between CHF1,000 ($1,110) and CHF2,000 per case. What is more, the bill is paid by the right-to-die organisation, and therefore ultimately by the person who wanted to die.

According to Pegasos, the costs are subsumed in the total price of assisted suicide, which amounts to around CHF10,000 per person, be it with Pegasos or other, similar organisations in Switzerland.

According to Pegasos, the agreement above all helps to ensure a more dignified setting for the relatives. The farewell and grieving process is now no longer interrupted by the appearance of the criminal investigation team, the organisation wrote in response to a request. “This disturbed the family’s privacy in an intimate moment. Family and friends had to wait until the official procedures were completed.”

This agreement reduces the cost for the Canton with relation to assisted suicide. Leutenegger reports:

Thanks to the agreement, which came into effect in December, canton Solothurn can cut some high costs. Previously, each assisted suicide by a person resident abroad cost the canton around CHF3,000.

“We get a better result in terms of evidence in this way. The new arrangement also eases the burden on the public purse and on human resources,” says Solothurn’s chief prosecutor, Hansjürg Brodbeck. The authorities, meanwhile, reserve the right to carry out random checks.

It is expected that the number of assisted suicide deaths will double by 2035. Leutenegger wrote;

Lately, over 1,700 Swiss residents a year have committed assisted suicide. In addition, over 500 people from abroad travel to Switzerland for this purpose each year. And demand is increasing: observers expect the number of assisted suicides in Switzerland to double by 2035.

More information on the Switzerlands assisted suicide law.

• Swiss assisted suicide clinic's many controversial deaths (Link). 
• Euthanasia activist, Sean Davison, arrested in London England (Link).
• A mother's warning about her sons death by assisted suicide in Switzerland (Link). 
• My husbands death made me more opposed to assisted suicide (Link). 
• Swiss study: Legalizing assisted suicide does not lessen the number of common suicides (Link).

A Mother's warning about her sons death by assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An 82-year-old mother in the UK is warning people about assisted suicide after her 47-year-old son died at a Swiss assisted suicide clinic.

Judith Hamilton

Paul Brand reported for ITV.com on May 16, 2024 that the Pegasos assisted suicide clinic which assists the suicides of hundreds of people every year, assisted the suicide of Alastair Hamilton, who had an undiagnosed condition. 

Following an ITV News investigation, Pegasos said it would change its procedures to ensure that relatives were always informed in future. Brand reported:

The chemistry teacher had dramatically lost weight and complained of stomach problems in the months leading up to his death, but did not have a diagnosed illness.

His family had been supporting him in seeking medical help and had no idea he was really travelling to Switzerland to end his life.

When he failed to return to the UK and stopped answering his phone, his mother reported him missing.

Bank records eventually revealed that he had paid £11,000 to Pegasos to access what's known as a 'voluntary assisted death' in Switzerland.

ITV News travelled with his family to trace his final journey and confront the clinic which accepted his online application form, which has been seen by ITV News.

Pegasos approved Alastairs death even though they knew that he had an undiagnosed condition. Brand reported:

Limited to 300 word answers, Alastair told them that his undiagnosed condition was causing him "pain, fatigue and discomfort" which had "devastated my life".

However, he admitted that "there is no current, definitive medical explanation" for his illness and that his family did not know he had decided to take his own life.

Despite that, Pegasos accepted his application and within several days of arriving in Switzerland he was helped to die.

At first Pegasos did not respond to the Hamilton family but after ITV got involved they agreed to meet with the family. Brand stated:

Eventually, with the involvement of police and the British embassy, the clinic responded, confirming Alastair's death and returning his ashes to his family in the post.

We persuaded a representative from Pegasos to meet with Judith and Bradley in Switzerland to answer their questions.

At an anonymous office in central Basel, we were greeted by Sean Davison, who had spoken repeatedly to Alastair before he died.

Sean Davidson

Sean Davidson is a past President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies and a former leader of Dignity South Africa who completed three years (house arrest) in South Africa for his conviction in the deaths of Anrich Burger (in 2013), Justin Varian (in 2015), and Richard Holland (in 2015). Sean Davidson was also convicted in the death of his mother in 2010 and he lost his medical license in New Zealand in 2020.

Brand ended the article by stating:

"In 2022, the Swiss Medical Association revised its guidelines regarding assisted dying. It is important to understand that these guidelines are not legally binding for the associations but are policies for the medical professionals. Several organisations for assisted dying, including Exit, Dignitas and Pegasos, publicly spoke out against the revised guidelines, because they are putting at risk the self-determination of people planning a voluntary assisted death and the freedom of choice in Switzerland."

Previous articles about Switzerland's assisted suicide law:

• My husbands death made me more opposed to assisted suicide (Link). 
• Swiss study: Legalizing assisted suicide does not lessen the number of common suicides (Link).