Daughter details tragic way she learned about mom's assisted suicide after telling family she’s going on vacation
A mom told her family she was going on vacation but in reality had travelled for an assisted suicide without their knowledge.
The grief-stricken family of Maureen Slough from Cavan, Ireland, are speaking out after the 58-year-old said she was taking a trip with a friend to Lithuania but ended up going solo to Switzerland on July 8 with a plan to end her life.
Maureen's daughter, Megan Royal, also said she found out about the true nature of her trip in a heartbreaking way - and could do little to stop it.
The day after Maureen arrived in the European country, where assisted suicide is legal, Megan said she was contacted by one of her mom's friends with an alarming message.
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"A close friend of hers messaged me on the Wednesday night, possibly at like 10 p.m. I was in bed with the baby,” she 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 in that moment," Megan added.
The mom-of-two contacted her dad, who spoke to Maureen and said her mom had promised she would come home.
However, the following day Megan learned Maureen had pressed ahead with her plans - in a notification that she would receive her ashes.
"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 company in Liestal, Switzerland, and discovered her mom had secretly filled out an application and paid £15,000 (around $20,000) for the process.
According to Dignity in Dying, Switzerland is one of nine countries in Europe that legally permits people the right to access assisted suicide, though some countries such as Austria and Portugal have stricter conditions such as a terminal illness or chronic conditions to apply.
The practice has been permitted in Switzerland since 1942 and unlike some other EU countries, is open to anyone including non-Swiss residents.
However, euthanasia is illegal, meaning the patient has to administer the drugs themselves rather than a doctor.
As for Maureen, her family say she did suffer with her mental health and had even attempted to take her life in the past while grieving the deaths of her two younger sisters but still had 'a lot more life to give.'
“No one’s saying she wasn’t feeling pain,” Megan told the outlet. “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.
"They [Pegasos] should not have allowed her to make that decision on her own," she added to Right to Life. "This group did not contact me, even though my mother had nominated me as next of kin. They waited until afterwards and then told me she had died listening to an Elvis Presley song."
The family are now quizzing the company's verification process after Pegasos claimed Maureen had been suffering with 'unbearable chronic pain' and that it had received a letter and an email from Megan that supposedly outlined her awareness of her mom's plans.
But Megan believes her mom had forged the letter and responded to the email on her behalf.
“It wasn’t even my email. With anything these days, 99 percent of things you settle you get a call to your phone. So why is it not like this when you’re about to lose your life?" she told the outlet.
Philip Slough, her uncle and attorney, is now calling on the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the UK to investigate their case with Swiss authorities.
He accuses Pegasos of failing to follow its policy of properly informing family members, writing that the 'circumstances in which my sister took her life are highly questionable.'
UNILAD has contacted Pegasos for comment.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 to reach a 24-hour crisis center or you can webchat at 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
Topics: Mental Health, Ireland, World News
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