The family of an Irish woman has been left devastated and demanding an investigation after a Swiss assisted-suicide clinic informed them of their mother’s death through a WhatsApp message. Maureen Slough, 58, secretly traveled to the Pegasos clinic in Basel and ended her life just two days after telling relatives she was going on holiday. The shocking nature of the notification, which was followed by her ashes arriving by post, has ignited a painful controversy, with her family alleging the clinic’s procedures were “woefully inadequate” and may have been based on forged documents.
The ordeal for Maureen Slough’s family began on July 8, when she departed from her home in Cavan, Ireland, under the pretense of a holiday in Lithuania. In reality, she flew alone to Switzerland. Two days later, her daughter, Megan Royal, received an impersonal and chilling message from Pegasos, confirming her mother had died while "listening to gospel music sung by Elvis Presley." The text also advised her that her mother's ashes would be posted to her within six to eight weeks, a notification that left Megan feeling as though her "world ended."
The family insists they were completely unaware of Maureen's intentions, despite her having named Megan as her next of kin. While they managed to reach her by phone the night before her death and believed they had secured her promise to return, their hopes were shattered by the clinic's digital message. Adding to their anguish, handwritten goodbye letters from Maureen only arrived weeks after her death, deepening the sense of a sudden and unresolved loss.
The family’s grief has been compounded by serious questions about the clinic's verification process. Pegasos, which charged a reported £13,000 for the procedure, claims it conducted an extensive assessment, including an independent psychiatric evaluation, and concluded Ms. Slough was of sound mind. They maintain she suffered from "unbearable, unrelievable chronic pain" and that they received a letter, and later an email confirmation, from an address purporting to be Megan's, acknowledging her mother's plans.
However, Megan Royal vehemently denies writing the letter or the email, alleging her mother, who had a long history of mental illness and a previous suicide attempt, likely forged the documents and created a bogus email address to circumvent the process. "They should not have allowed her to make that decision on her own," she stated, highlighting that the clinic never once called her to verify the information. Her uncle and Maureen's brother, Philip, a UK solicitor, has formally called on the Foreign Office to investigate, asserting that his sister provided the clinic with "bogus medical conditions" and that Pegasos failed to follow its own policies of informing family.
This tragic case is reportedly the third since 2023 in which a family has alleged that Pegasos failed to properly inform them about a loved one's assisted death, despite previous promises by the clinic to improve its procedures. While assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, critics have long warned that loopholes and weak oversight can allow individuals with mental health struggles, rather than terminal physical illnesses, to access these services.
For Maureen Slough’s family, the loss is magnified by the cold, procedural manner in which it was handled. Her daughter lamented the lack of compassion, noting there was "not even a condolence letter with her urn. Not even a fragile sticker on the box, just bounced around the back of a post van." They are now fighting for accountability, hoping an investigation will shed light on what they see as a catastrophic failure of duty of care, a failure that robbed them of the chance to say goodbye and left them to grapple with the shocking finality of a WhatsApp message.
· Notification by Text: An Irish family learned of their 58-year-old mother's assisted suicide in Switzerland via a WhatsApp message from the Pegasos clinic.
· Allegations of Forgery: The family claims the clinic acted on forged documents allegedly created by the mother, Maureen Slough, to feign next-of-kin consent, and that the clinic's verification process was inadequate.
· Call for Investigation: The family, led by Ms. Slough's brother, has called for an official investigation by the UK Foreign Office into the clinic's procedures.
· Pattern of Complaints: This is the third similar case since 2023 where a family has accused the Pegasos clinic of failing to properly inform them about a loved one's assisted death.
