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 case comes as assisted dying legislation in England and Wales, which opponents branded 'hopelessly flawed', ran out of time to be passed by parliament.
Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy's death as a 'sane suicide'. He said the procedure was completed without incident and in full compliance with her wishes, and that staff had no doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence.
Duffy's son died after choking on a sandwich that became lodged in his windpipe, starving his brain of oxygen. She had told the Daily Mail that she paid Pegasos £10,000 and her siblings knew she had applied to the clinic.
The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which had been making its way through parliament for 18 months, fell on Friday. It had proposed allowing adults with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval. Duffy's case would not have met these conditions.
