{"id":2137,"date":"2025-08-16T09:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T09:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/2137\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T09:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T09:51:09","slug":"pegasos-assisted-dying-clinic-changes-policies-after-cavan-woman-passes-away-without-prior-knowledge-of-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/2137\/","title":{"rendered":"Pegasos assisted dying clinic changes policies after Cavan woman passes away without prior knowledge of family"},"content":{"rendered":"

The end of Maureen Slough\u2019s life at a Swiss clinic has revived the divisive issue of assisted dying. The clinic has now promised to insist on having video calls with next of kin for unaccompanied applicants\n<\/p>\n

In early July, Maureen (58) ended her own life in a Swiss facility run by a group called Pegasos, apparently overseen by volunteers she did not know, and a dog, while Spotify played Amazing Grace by Elvis Presley in the background.<\/p>\n

Her partner Mick Lynch and daughter Megan only found out when a WhatsApp message arrived afterwards from Pegasos.<\/p>\n

She was then cremated, and the urn containing her ashes was posted home like a parcel containing something bought on the internet. Maureen Slough became tracking number CF128182270CH.<\/p>\n

In response to queries from the Irish Independent, the clinic said it has now changed its procedures for unaccompanied applicants.<\/p>\n

It will no longer accept unaccompanied applicants with living family members unless they provide copies of their next of kin\u2019s passport and allow representatives of the clinic to meet them in a video call.<\/p>\n

News of Maureen\u2019s death, and the manner in which she died, has once again prompted debate on the divisive subject of assisted dying.<\/p>\n

Should a person with a terminal illness be allowed to take their own life? What if they are terminally ill but are physically unable to trigger whatever mechanism or device will end their lives \u2013 would someone else be able to trigger it instead?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Pegasos building in Roderis, Switzerland<\/p>\n

What about someone who is not terminally ill but suffering unbearable pain through illness, a pain that is making their lives unliveable? What about someone who is not ill, but elderly and tired of living as they foresee a life of declining health and autonomy?<\/p>\n

And what about someone who suffers from mental illness? Can they be deemed to be \u2018of sound mind\u2019 when making these decisions?<\/p>\n

Swiss law allows for assisted suicide, as long as the motive of those assisting with the act is not selfish, such as where there would be monetary gain.<\/p>\n

The person requesting assistance in ending their lives must possess decision-making capacity, and they also must have control over the action of their death. In other words, they must be of sound mind and be able to trigger the action that will end their lives.<\/p>\n

Assisted dying in certain circumstances is also legal in New Zealand, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and the US state of Oregon.<\/p>\n

Dignitas is the group that is probably most widely known for providing the service of assisted dying in Europe.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf my mother provided Pegasos with a phone number for me, why didn\u2019t they ring me on that number to find out if I knew of her plan in advance?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Established as a not-for-profit members\u2019 society in Switzerland in 1998, between 2003 and 2023 Dignitas provided an assisted suicide service for 13 people from Ireland. Many of its clients, more than a third, travel from Germany, followed by the UK and France.<\/p>\n

Since its inception, it has assisted in more than 4,000 deaths for people from 67 countries as far away as Peru, Malaysia, Russia, the US and Uruguay. But there are other assisted suicide clinics in Switzerland, and it is the Pegasos group that has been under the spotlight in recent weeks since Maureen Slough\u2019s death. It is being criticised for allegedly allowing someone with a mental illness to take their life without the knowledge of her family. The family of UK teacher Alastair Hamilton, who took his life at a Pegasos clinic in 2023, say they were told afterwards by Pegasos that it would change its procedures to ensure that certain family members know of their loved one\u2019s wishes before assisting their death.<\/p>\n

But in January this year, the family of Anne Canning, from Wales, only learned of her death after she ended her life. They say Pegasos said it had attempted to contact a family member. Anne\u2019s family argue that \u2018attempting\u2019 to contact someone is not the same as actually contacting them.<\/p>\n

\"Anne<\/p>\n

Anne Canning died at the Pegasos clinic in January<\/p>\n

Now Maureen Slough\u2019s daughter Megan is asking the same questions as she holds a funeral service for her mother. Pegasos has said it received a letter from Megan saying she was aware of her mother\u2019s wishes, and that it verified the letter using an email address supplied by Maureen.<\/p>\n

Megan insists she did not write any letter or provide any email address to Pegasos. Whether Maureen herself wrote the letter and created the email account used for \u2018verification\u2019 or not, we will probably never know. But Megan asks: \u201cIf my mother provided Pegasos with a phone number for me, to which a message would be sent following her death, why didn\u2019t they ring me on that number to find out if I knew of her plan in advance?\u201d<\/p>\n

The clinic has now decided that in future it will no longer accept unaccompanied applicants with living family members unless they provide copies of their next of kin\u2019s passport and allow the clinic to contact them in a video call.<\/p>\n

In response to queries from the Irish Independent, a spokesman for the clinic said: \u201cWe take great issue with any allegations that we are acting without regulation or unethically. Pegasos has always complied and will continue to comply with Swiss law without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Pegasos representative said each assisted death required careful prior assessment and the clinic requested medical and psychiatric reports. The applicant talks to a doctor\/psychiatrist during the application process, and is interviewed again by a doctor on the day before the assisted death takes place.<\/p>\n

\"Unanswered<\/p>\n

Unanswered questions: Maureen Slough with her daughter Megan<\/p>\n

Two families whose loved ones ended their lives at a Swiss clinic in secret have said they are heartbroken that another family has been put through a similar ordeal<\/p>\n

The total cost for a voluntary assisted death with Pegasos is approximately 10,000 Swiss Francs (\u20ac10,490).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have become aware of a few instances, where we had credible assurances by the patient that they had informed family members or had put us in contact with real family members, when in fact they had not, as it later turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to these incidents, a clinic spokesman said Pegasos had incorporated additional steps to the application process.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Dignitas told the Irish Independent its own principle is that: \u201cOne should not set upon a long journey without careful preparation and one should not set upon such a journey without having appropriately said goodbye to loved ones. People are always advised to speak with their loved ones, involve them in the process, ask them to be companions on the journey and to be present at a physician-supported accompanied\/assisted suicide (PSAS) in Switzerland,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

But they add that the freedom and right to shape and determine the course of one\u2019s life, in the frame of what the law permits, also includes the freedom and right of a person to choose whom they inform about their decisions, which includes the decision to make use of PSAS.<\/p>\n

It advises people to speak with their loved ones and involve them in the process. But it says that any organisation, for legal and confidentiality reasons, cannot disclose information and\/or data to third parties \u2013 be it family or friends or anyone else \u2013 without explicit consent of the person concerned. The motives for not wanting to inform family members, and others, may vary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey may range from being afraid of negative personal repercussions due to family estrangement, threats, stigma, etc, to wanting to protect loved ones from the negative impact of absurd local laws which threaten with legal consequences those who compassionately support someone to have a legal voluntary assisted death abroad,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Swiss non-profit end-of-life-choices support groups, which provide people from Ireland, and any other country, with the option of legally exercising their right and freedom to decide on time and manner of their own end of life, only do so because these countries \u2013 in this case, Ireland \u2013 deprive people of this right and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governments are accused by the group of \u201cdragging their feet in legalising what a majority of the public wishes for: legal options to end one\u2019s own suffering at home\u201d.<\/p>\n

Back in 2012, university lecturer Marie Fleming and her partner Tom Curran tried to have the law here changed so that Marie, who had a very aggressive form of MS, could be helped to end her own life at a time of her choosing.<\/p>\n

The case prompted the first real public debate on assisted dying in Ireland. Marie and Tom became the faces of that debate, and they ultimately lost in court. Marie died in December 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very disappointed that more than 10 years after Marie\u2019s death, we still do not have legislation on this,\u201d Tom Curran told the Irish Independent. \u201cThe last government put the committee (on assisted dying) together and it made favourable recommendations, but the new D\u00e1il has sat on that and done nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also spoke about how the whole arena of assisted dying is full of grey areas, and he said future prosecutions will probably be the way any new law is tested.<\/p>\n

He feels there needs to be much more discussion about definitions of terms like \u2018assisting\u2019 a person who wants to die, so that there is clarity around that issue: \u201cCurrently it is illegal to \u2018assist\u2019 someone to take their life. But what is \u2018assistance\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf an Aer Lingus pilot knew one of their passengers was going to Switzerland to end their life, would they be \u2018assisting\u2019 them by flying them there? Is the moral support of a loved one \u2018assistance\u2019? There is no black and white here,\u201d says Curran.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuicide has been decriminalised here since 1993, and yet it is a criminal act to assist someone to do something which is no longer a crime. It\u2019s a strange law,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Following seismic shifts in Irish constitutional rights such as abortion rights and the introduction of gay marriage, assisted dying now stands as the next divisive issue that Ireland must confront.<\/p>\n

Yet, just like those other polarising issues, successive governments have been accused of kicking the can down the proverbial road. Despite various reports, taskforces and proposed Bills, it remains a thorny topic that no one is prepared to ultimately deal with.<\/p>\n

The case brought by Marie Fleming against the government seemed like the first step along that road.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018I\u2019m<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m very disappointed that more than 10 years after Marie\u2019s death, we still do not have legislation on this\u2019: Tom Curran and Marie Fleming in 2013. Photo: Mark Condren<\/p>\n

Her legal team claimed the Section 2.2 of the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act, which renders it an offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure the suicide of another, was unconstitutional. This was rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court, and the offence still carries a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n

The issue then gathered momentum. In 2015, a private members bill on assisted dying was proposed by ex-TD and minister John Halligan. In 2018, as debate on the issue continued to grow, the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality recommended that the Oireachtas consider referring the issue of assisted dying to the Citizens\u2019 Assembly for further consideration. This did not happen.<\/p>\n

More recently, former People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny sponsored the Dying with Dignity Private Members Bill in October 2020, and the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill in 2024, neither of which progressed.<\/p>\n

A Special Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying was eventually established in 2023, and it published its 96-page report in March 2024, based on sittings over six months, where they heard from over 70 witnesses, including experts in law, ethics, medicine, disability, palliative care, and psychiatry.<\/p>\n

The report details 38 specific recommendations for the potential legalisation of assisted dying in specific circumstances, chiefly that the legislation would allow for assisted dying for individuals with terminal illnesses expected to cause death within six months \u2013 or 12 months for neurodegenerative conditions.<\/p>\n

It also recommended the establishment of an independent body to oversee all assisted dying applications, as well as increased funding for palliative care, and enhanced research into economic disadvantage and health inequalities.<\/p>\n

The recommendations were supported by only nine of the committee\u2019s 14 members, and three published a dissenting minority report. In October of last year, however, the D\u00e1il voted to accept the report, with 76 votes in favour and 53 against. Members were allowed a free or \u201cconscience\u201d vote on the issue.<\/p>\n

An organisation known as Irish Doctors supporting Medical Assistance in Dying (IDsMAID) represents medical professionals in Ireland who advocate for the choice to access voluntary assisted dying, which they say is now available in 17 countries. A proposed model for how assisted dying might work in Ireland was drawn up by the group following the D\u00e1il acceptance of the Oireachtas joint committee\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

The obvious opponents would be the Catholic Church, but also the palliative medicine community, who have sought to clarify their role and how people are medicated at the end of their lives. Disability rights advocates have also expressed their concerns.<\/p>\n

Yet public opinion has shifted considerably in the past two decades. An Am\u00e1rach poll for RT\u00c9\u2019s Claire Byrne Show in 2021 found that 74pc of people would be in favour of legislation that would allow assisted dying under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely, however, that the Government will move forward with any such legislation.<\/p>\n