An Irish woman told her family that she was going on vacation, but instead she went to Switzerland to die by assisted suicide.
The family of Maureen Slough, 58, of Cavan, Ireland, is now saying that the procedures of the clinic that facilitated her death were not sufficient to allow family members the chance to stop Slough.
Megan Royal explained that her mother said she was off to vacation in Lithuania, according to People. Then the truth emerged.
“A close friend of hers messaged me on the Wednesday night, possibly at like 10 p.m. I was in bed with the baby,” the mother of two said. “He just replied like, ‘Your mom’s in Switzerland.’ He’s like, ‘You have a right to know. I was sworn to secrecy. She’s there and she wants assisted suicide.’ I was so scared in that moment.”
Royal eventually contacted her father, who contacted Slough. Although Slough said she would come home, Royal learned the next day her mother was dead.
“What was worse was not only did I get the text on WhatsApp, they had advised me that her ashes would be posted to me in 6-8 weeks,” she said. “In that very moment, because I was alone, I just sat there with the baby and cried… I just felt like my world ended.”
Pegasos, an assisted dying nonprofit in Liestal, Switzerland, was paid £15,000. The Irish Independent reported that Slough paid out €15,000, which is about £13,000, according to Wise.
Slough’s brother, Philip, asserted that while Pegasos said his sister went through an extensive screening process, it did not inform the family according to its guidelines, the Irish Independent reported. He said he has asked for an investigation.
He said he believes his sister created a workaround to fool the system by creating a fake paper trail of required approvals.
Should assisted suicide be banned?
Pegasos said the documents in its file indicate that Royal supported her mother’s actions, but Royal says that is not true.
“I am working on the assumption that my sister created this email and the clinic’s procedures were woefully inadequate in verification,” he wrote officials.
“It appears my sister provided Pegasos with letters of complaint to medical authorities in Éire in respect of bogus medical conditions, and that these documents were considered by Pegasos in support of her application,” he wrote, adding, “the circumstances in which my sister took her life are highly questionable.”
Mick Lynch, Slough’s partner, said that she was upbeat the last time he had seen her.
“I was actually talking to her that morning and she was full of life. She said she was after having her breakfast and she was going out to sit in the sun. Maybe she was heading off to that place. I still thought she was coming home.”
Royal said her mother had a history of mental illness, according to People, including a past suicide attempt brought on by the deaths of her two younger sisters.
“No one’s saying she wasn’t feeling pain. Not pain good enough to go and end her life. She had a lot more life to live and give,” Royal said. “She was just in a dark time. She wasn’t terminally ill or, in my opinion, ill enough to go and do this and leave our family behind like that.”
Royal said the she made plans for her mother’s funeral.
“We’re going to bury her with her two sisters,” she said.
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