This Woman's 'Vacation' Was A Secret Switzerland Trip For Assisted Suicide

An Irish woman, who told her family that she was going on a vacation, travelled to Switzerland to end her life. On July 8, Maureen Slough, 58, from Cavan, said that she was going to Lithuania with a friend.

But two of her friends knew she was travelling to Switzerland for assisted suicide. Her daughter, Megan Royal, learned of her mother's true plans the following day from one of Ms Slough's friends.

"A close friend of hers messaged me on Wednesday night, possibly at like 10 pm. I was in bed with the baby," Ms Royal told the Irish Independent. "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 at that moment."

Ms Royal immediately contacted her father, who tried to reach Ms Slough in Switzerland. The next day, Ms Royal received a WhatsApp message informing that her mother had died.

"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."

The message came from Pegasos, an assisted dying nonprofit in Liestal, Switzerland. Ms Royal later learned that Ms Slough, who reportedly promised to return home, had quietly filed an application and paid about Rs 17.8 lakh to end her life.

Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since 1942 and differs from euthanasia, which remains illegal, because patients take the drugs themselves.

Following Ms Slough's death, her family is seeking answers about how the assisted suicide happened without their knowledge.

Ms Slough's brother, Philip, a UK solicitor, has written to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office requesting an investigation. He claimed Pegasos ignored its own policy of informing the family, Right to Life UK reported.

Ms Royal described her mother as "a fiery, smart and dedicated woman" but said she had a history of mental illness, including a previous suicide attempt while coping with 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," Ms 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."

Ms Slough's ashes arrived in early August, and by the end of the month, the family arranged a funeral. "We're going to bury her with her two sisters," Ms Royal said, adding that she continues to struggle with grief.