{"id":56912,"date":"2026-04-28T11:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/56912\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T11:04:12","slug":"my-healthy-sister-took-own-life-at-swiss-suicide-clinic-after-sons-death-we-were-told-by-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/56912\/","title":{"rendered":"‘My healthy sister took own life at Swiss suicide clinic after son’s death – we were told by email’"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENT Anne Canning, 51, travelled to a controversial Swiss clinic to end her life despite being healthy – her sister said the family found out about her death through a two-line email<\/p>\n

11:20, 28 Apr 2026Updated 11:48, 28 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Anne Canning died at the Pegasos clinic in Switzerland(Image: ITV News)<\/p>\n

The sister of a healthy British woman who died at a Swiss<\/a> clinic said the family only found out about her sister’s death through a two-line email.<\/p>\n

Anne Canning, 51, secretly travelled to Switzerland to end her life at the Pegasos clinic<\/a>, near the city of Basel, in January 2025. The woman, from Haverfordwest, Wales, was healthy but had been grieving the death of her son, who had suddenly died a few months before.<\/p>\n

Anne’s sister, Delia, over a year on from the death said she was “disgusted” the clinic did not tell the family after the 51-year-old secretly travelled to the controversial clinic.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘My son died in secret at same clinic as Wendy Duffy – I just thought he was on holiday’<\/a>READ MORE: Wendy Duffy\u2019s heartbreaking final requests before taking her own life at Swiss clinic<\/a>\"Image<\/p>\n

Anne Canning died in January 2025(Image: ITV News)<\/p>\n

Delia, 54, revealed that she and her brother only discovered Anne’s plan to end her life after the 51-year-old sent her family a goodbye letter from Switzerland. The sister said Anne’s loved ones believed she had travelled to the country on holiday and did not know her intentions.<\/p>\n

The sister, speaking to The Telegraph<\/a>, said: “The impact Anne\u2019s decision had on us was more about the shock and horror that such a thing could be arranged and executed in such a short timeframe, in absolute secret from all loved ones, with no other avenues being explored first.”<\/p>\n

Delia revealed that after silence from their sister, the family used postmarks on the goodbye letters to track her down to the Pegasos clinic. She then claimed the clinic then sent a two-line email confirming Anne had died.<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/p>\n

Outside view of the controversial Pegasos Clinic, in Switzerland(Image: Pegasos)<\/p>\n

Under guidelines from the Swiss Medical Association, produced in 2022, clinics should inform relatives before a family member dies but this is no legally binding.<\/p>\n

Delia said her sister, a grandmother-of-two, change after her son’s death. She said: “I just wish she could have talked to somebody, one of the family or a professional, to persuade her to give it a little more time.”<\/p>\n

Swiss law dictates that assisted suicide is legal if it is not carried out for self-serving reasons and clinics must show that the patients condition was long-lasting, treatment-resistant and severe.<\/p>\n

On her sister, Delia said: “How could she have been in the right frame of mind to not think that the whole family would be completely torn apart and devastated? Somebody who is thinking that way is not very well. They need help, not a lethal injection.”<\/p>\n

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Wendy Duffy died at the Pegasos clinic(Image: Facebook)<\/p>\n

This comes after Wendy Duffy<\/a>, from the West Midlands, paid \u00a310,000 to end her life at Pegasos, four years after losing her son Marcus, 23. Her son died after choking on a sandwich that became lodged in his windpipe while at home. Wendy said she was unable to come to terms with her son’s sudden death despite years of counselling, treatment and medication.<\/p>\n

Speaking just days before her death, Wendy said: “I won’t change my mind. I know it’s hard for you, sweetheart. It will be hard for everyone. But I want to die, and that’s what I’m going to do. And I’ll have a smile on my face when I do, so please be happy for me. My life; my choice.”<\/p>\n

Unlike Anne, Wendy had told her two brothers and four sisters about her decision before she left the UK for Switzerland.<\/p>\n

The clinic’s founder, Ruedi Habegger called Wendy’s death a “sane suicide” and said: “I can confirm that Wendy Duffy, at her own request, was assisted to die on April 24 and that the procedure was completed without incident and in full compliance with her wishes.<\/p>\n

“I can also confirm that neither we nor any of the professional staff assessing her mental capacity had any doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence of both thought and action. In historical terms at English law, hers was a case of ‘sane suicide.'”<\/p>\n

The Pegasos clinic, after an ITV investigation, told the broadcaster in May 2024: “Pegasos has always respected the applicable Swiss law without exception and continues to do so.” The Mirror has reached out to the Pegasos clinic for comment.<\/p>\n

**For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org<\/a>, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENT Anne Canning, 51, travelled to a controversial Swiss clinic to end her life despite being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[30371,41,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-56912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-assisted-dying","9":"tag-swiss","10":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116482006505330552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}