Many foreigners travel to Switzerland to end their lives with the assistance of an organisation. In Switzerland, assisted suicide is legal under certain conditions. But choosing this path without being terminally ill continues to shock many and raise ethical questions.
When I first read Franz Kafka’s The Judgment, one line stayed with me after the protagonist’s suicide: “At that moment an almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge…” My interpretation being, that, even in death and loss, life goes on for many – uninterrupted.
For 56-year-old Wendy Duffy, this is not the case. Her son, Marcus, choked to death in front of her four years ago. Since then, she has undergone years of therapy but says she has been unable to come to terms with his death.
“That’s when I died too, inside. I’m not the same person now as I was… I don’t care about anything anymore. I exist. I don’t live.”
After an unsuccessful suicide attempt that left her on a ventilator in a “vegetative state” for two weeks, Duffy applied to the assisted suicide organisation Pegasos and after months of evaluation received approval late last year.
Founded in 2019, Pegasos primarily serves foreigners. Its conditions are straightforward: applicants must be over 18, mentally competent and able to pay around CHF10,000 ($12,711). Unlike some other Swiss organisations, Pegasos does not require applicants to suffer from an incurable illness.
For the past year, Duffy has been counting down the remaining time on her phone. In just a few days, the moment will come. “I have to administer the medication myself; that’s what the law requires,” she explains. Her final request is for her ashes to be scattered alongside those of her son.