A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child. Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus.
The former care worker, from the West Midlands, had previously attempted to take her own life. Her son died after choking on a sandwich that became lodged in his windpipe, starving his brain of oxygen.
Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy’s death as a “sane suicide”. He confirmed that she was assisted to die on 24 April in full compliance with her wishes, and that there was no doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence of thought and action.
Duffy had paid Pegasos £10,000 and her siblings knew she had applied to the clinic. She said: “My life, my choice. I wish this was available in the UK, then I wouldn’t have to go to Switzerland at all.”
The case comes as assisted dying legislation in England and Wales, the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, fell after failing to reach a vote in the Lords. The bill had proposed allowing adults with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, but Duffy’s case would likely not have met these conditions.
