AN IRISH household was left devastated after allegedly receiving a textual content from a Swiss assisted dying clinic that their mum was lifeless and her ashes can be despatched by submit.
Maureen Slough, a 58-year-old from Cavan, travelled to the Pegasos clinic on July 8 to hunt an assisted death – with out her household’s data – in line with the Irish Independent.
2
Maureen reportedly instructed her household that she and a pal have been going to Lithuania.
“I used to be truly speaking to her that morning and she or he was lively,” Maureen’s associate Mick Lynch instructed the newspaper, talking in regards to the morning of her loss of life.
“She stated after having her breakfast… she was going out to sit down within the solar. Possibly she was heading off to that place. I nonetheless thought she was coming house.”
Her daughter, Megan Royal, then obtained a heartbreaking WhatsApp message, which allegedly stated her mum had died listening to gospel music sung by Elvis Presley.
The household is shocked that the clinic would settle for an utility for assisted dying from Maureen, who they are saying had lengthy struggled with psychological sickness.
She had additionally tried suicide a 12 months prior, after the deaths of her two sisters, in line with the household.
Including to their dismay, the household claims the clinic by no means knowledgeable them of her plans.
Pals are reportedly horrified by the clinic’s methodology of returning the ashes through parcel submit.
Her pal, Stephanie Daly, instructed the newspaper: “You get letters within the submit, not individuals.”
Determined for solutions, the household discovered Maureen had paid a reported £13,000 to the Pegasos Swiss Affiliation to help her loss of life.
The Pegasos group is a non-profit voluntary assisted dying organisation.
Based on its web site, the clinic believes it is “the human proper of each rational grownup of sound thoughts, no matter state of well being, to decide on the way and timing of their loss of life”.
The group allegedly stated it obtained a letter from Megan, stating she was conscious of and accepted her mum’s choice to die.
The clinic additionally claims it verified the letter’s authenticity by an e-mail response from Megan, utilizing an e-mail handle her mum supplied.
However Megan insists she by no means wrote the letter or verified any contact from the clinic, the report stated.
The household claims Maureen could have solid the letter and created a pretend e-mail handle to confirm it.
Her brother Philip, a UK solicitor, claims Maureen supplied the clinic with “letters of criticism to medical authorities in Éire in respect of bogus medical situations” – which Pegasos then used as supporting paperwork for her utility.
Megan reportedly argues her mum’s choice to go to the clinic was made in a state of grief, because of her sisters’ deaths.
She additionally cites her mum’s tough upbringing as a baby.
It’s understood that previously few weeks, the household has obtained handwritten goodbye letters from Maureen.
The Pegasos group maintains that it carried out an in depth evaluation of Maureen’s mental health – together with an impartial psychiatric analysis.
They added that Maureen instructed the clinic she was in insufferable and unrelievable continual ache and that they obtained supporting medical documentation from her pain-management marketing consultant.
Concerning the letter, the clinic claims Megan confirmed its authenticity through e-mail and apologised for not having the ability to accompany her mum to Switzerland.
The clinic claims the letter expressed that whereas Megan was sad along with her mum’s choice, she accepted it.
Maureen’s brother desires the International, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace, together with Swiss authorities, to conduct an investigation.
“I’m engaged on the belief that my sister created this e-mail and the clinic’s procedures have been woefully insufficient in verification,” he wrote.
“The Pegasos clinic has confronted quite a few criticisms within the UK for his or her practices with British nationals, and the circumstances by which my sister took her life are extremely questionable.”
When approached for remark by the Daily Mail, the Pegasos Swiss Affiliation stated it couldn’t “share, verify, nor deny the identities of our sufferers in public”.
It added: “When speaking about voluntary assisted loss of life in Switzerland, you will need to perceive that every one organisations are legally certain to do cautious prior evaluation.
“Pegasos has all the time revered the relevant Swiss legislation with out exception and continues to take action.”
Maureen’s household’s story shouldn’t be distinctive.
Different households have additionally slammed Pegasos, claiming they’d no data that their family members would endure assisted deaths.
In 2023, Pegasos reportedly vowed to contact an individual’s kinfolk beforehand after 47-year-old instructor Alistair Hamilton – who had no recognized sickness – died, leaving his household shocked.
Nevertheless, in 2025, the organisation appeared to interrupt this promise.
Anne Canning, a 51-year-old British mum, who was battling despair after the sudden loss of life of her son 19 months prior, ended her life on the clinic, ITV first reported.
Her household have been allegedly not knowledgeable of her choice – solely discovering out after they obtained goodbye letters she had written shortly earlier than her loss of life.
The Solar has contacted the Pegasos Swiss Affiliation for remark.
