Her family only knew when they began receiving letters from Switzerland
A woman has died at an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland without her family’s knowledge, despite promises from the centre that it wouldn’t happen again.
A 51-year-old lady, identified only as Anne, travelled to the Pegasos clinic in Switzerland and chose to end her life, with her family only learning of her death via letters she posted once she arrived in the country.
Her sister told ITV News that she had ‘no terminal illness’ saying: “She was one of the healthiest people we know.”
They thought she had gone to Switzerland on holiday in January but began to receive goodbye letters from her.
“If you’re reading this, I am no longer here,” Anne wrote. Her sister believes the depression Anne suffered after the death of her only son was a factor in her decision.
She said: “I have thought about this long and hard and need to find [my son] and ask him some questions.
“There is nothing you could have done, because this was my decision to go to Switzerland and be in peace… I can’t keep going and get older and older without my son.”
It took several days of emails, after tracking Anne back to Pegasos, for the family to get confirmation that Anne had in fact visited that particular clinic and gone through with her plans.
Pegasos simply said: “Anne has chosen to die.”
Before refusing to reply any further to Anne’s sister, who insisted ‘this was NOT the right decision for her’, Pegasos said: “Anne no longer wanted to live, she felt alone and superfluous. She also did not want to grow old. This is a free decision of a free person.”
Last year, Pegasos promised to always phone a person’s family before going through with an assisted death, after Judith Hamilton, 82, confronted its owner Ruedi Habegger over the secret death of her son.
Hamilton’s son, chemistry teacher Alastair did not have a diagnosed illness and his family thought he was going on holiday.
However, Pegasos had accepted his online application form claiming a condition was causing him devastating ‘pain, fatigue and comfort’.
His mother only found out after reporting Alastair missing when he failed to return home and stopped answering calls. Bank records revealed an £11,000 payment to Pegasos.
Judith, who waved him off at the airport, said: “He put his arms around me, looked me straight in the eyes and he was smiling. And he said ‘love you, mum, love you lots, always have, always will no matter what’.”
Pegasos promised to inform families in future after Hamilton confronted them and though Pegasos claim they attempted to call Anne’s brother on this occasion, her family say they never received a call.
He told ITV: “Why do they possibly think they have the right to do these things without contacting her family? It just seems evil to me… not to give us a chance to speak to her.”
Upon hearing Anne’s story, Judith said: “I cannot believe that despite what we were told, Pegasos have acted in the same heartless, cruel manner as they did when Alistair died. I think they are despicable and should no longer be allowed to operate”
A Pegasos spokesperson said: “According to our protocols we do the best of our abilities that persons we assist have informed their loved ones of their plans to die.
“Should we have reason to assume that no information has been provided to close family, we will refrain from proceeding without credible proof that they are aware. This hasn’t been the case lately.
“We understand that the assisted death of a loved person is a distressing time for the family. We are very sorry if Pegasos’ actions or communications have caused further distress to any affected family member at any time and thoroughly consider all concerns.
“Finally, we’d like to emphasize that – since our foundation in 2019 – all our actions have been in accordance with Swiss law.”
