When 58-year-old Maureen Slough told her family she was heading off on a summer vacation, they believed her. She said Lithuania. In reality, she was on her way to Switzerland, where, within days, she would end her life at an assisted suicide clinic.
Her daughter, Megan Royal, remembers the moment her world shifted. “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 … she wants assisted suicide.’ I was so scared in that moment.”
Royal said her father tried to reach Slough, who eventually promised she would come home. But the following day, a WhatsApp notification told a different story. The text, sent from Pegasos — a nonprofit that facilitates assisted dying in Liestal, Switzerland — informed her that her mother had died. The message added, almost mechanically, that her ashes would be mailed to Ireland in six to eight weeks.
“In that very moment, because I was alone, I just sat there with the baby and cried,” Royal said. “I just felt like my world ended.”
Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since 1942. Unlike euthanasia, where doctors directly administer life-ending drugs, patients in Switzerland take the medication themselves. For Pegasos, Slough had completed an application, undergone a psychiatric evaluation, and paid £15,000. The group says she was of sound mind and suffering from “unbearable chronic pain.”
Royal and her family dispute that account. They describe Slough as “fiery, smart and dedicated,” but also someone who had long struggled with mental illness and the grief of losing two younger sisters. “No one’s saying she wasn’t feeling pain,” Royal said. “But not pain good enough to go and end her life. She had a lot more life to live and give.”
Adding to the family’s anguish are questions about how Pegasos verified Slough’s decision. The organization said it had received a letter — allegedly from Royal — acknowledging her mother’s plans, even if she disagreed. Royal insists her mother impersonated her in that exchange. “It wasn’t even my email,” she said. “If I want to set up a Roblox account for my 8-year-old, I have to verify it on my phone. Why isn’t there that level of care when you’re about to lose your life?”
Her uncle, a solicitor in the UK, has written to British officials asking them to press Swiss authorities for answers. He claims Pegasos failed to follow its own policy of informing family.
For Royal, the way her mother’s death was handled has compounded the grief. “She was in and out in two days and that was the end of their communication with me,” she said. “Not even a condolence letter with her urn.”
By early August, the ashes had finally arrived. The family buried her alongside her two sisters. For Royal, the pain remains raw. “People tell me, ‘At least you didn’t find her in a bad way over here.’ But it was just as bad to me.”
