A 56-year-old British mother is traveling to Switzerland to end her life by assisted suicide after the death of her only son.<\/p>\n
Wendy Duffy told the New York Post she paid $13,500 to the Swiss assisted-dying nonprofit the Pegasos clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Duffy\u2019s son, Marcus, died at age 23 four years ago after choking on a tomato lodged in his windpipe while sleeping. Nine months later, unable to cope with her grief, she attempted suicide by overdose and was placed on a ventilator for two weeks.<\/p>\n She told the Daily Mail suicide is the only way her \u201cspirit can be free.\u201d She also said no amount of medication or therapy can make her whole again, and she \u201ccan\u2019t wait\u201d to die. She added: \u201cI could step off a motorway bridge or a tower block but that would leave anyone finding me dealing with that for the rest of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she has chosen her deathbed outfit and requested that Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars\u2019 \u201cDie With A Smile\u201d play as she dies. Her belongings will be donated afterward. <\/p>\n Duffy said she plans to call her four sisters and two brothers from Switzerland to say goodbye. \u201cIt will be a hard call where I\u2019ll say goodbye and thank them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they will get it. They know. Honestly, 100%, they know that I\u2019m not happy, that I don\u2019t want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, even for physically healthy people. On its website, Pegasos says it \u201cbelieves that it is the human right of every rational adult of sound mind, regardless of state of health, to choose the manner and timing of their death.”<\/p>\n Duffy\u2019s case follows the recent death by euthanasia of 25-year-old Noelia Castillo in Spain. On March 26, the young woman was euthanized over her father\u2019s objections. The case sparked national debate in Spain, where euthanasia has been legal since 2021.<\/p>\n The Church in Spain called Castillo\u2019s death \u201ca societal defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, members of the Spanish Bishops\u2019 Conference\u2019s Subcommittee for the Family and Defense of Life said Castillo\u2019s \u201cstory reflects an accumulation of personal suffering and institutional failings that challenge the whole of society.\u201d<\/p>\n Time\u02bcs up for right-to-die bill in UK<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a right-to-die bill has stalled in the U.K. Parliament. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill ran out of parliamentary time and therefore failed in the House of Lords on April 24. <\/p>\n The archbishop of Liverpool, John Sherrington, said he was grateful to \u201call those Parliamentarians who have worked tirelessly to preserve the dignity of every human life and ensure that end-of life care remains rooted in compassion and respect until the natural end of life.\u201d<\/p>\n The Catholic Church teaches that suicide and euthanasia are gravely immoral. <\/p>\n In a 2024 message to a palliative care symposium, Pope Francis called euthanasia \u201ca failure of love.\u201d He recalled when he said<\/a> previously that assisted suicide and euthanasia constitute a \u201cfalse compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018[C]ompassion,\u2019 a word that means \u2018suffering with,\u2019 does not involve the intentional ending of a life but rather the willingness to share the burdens of those facing the end stages of our earthly pilgrimage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In St. John Paul II\u2019s 1999 address to the Pontifical Academy for Life, \u201cLove and Solidarity for the Dying<\/a>,\u201d he said: \u201cNo one can arbitrarily choose whether to live or die; the absolute master of such a decision is the Creator alone.\u201d<\/p>\n