A British mother has spoken out about the devastating secret suicide of her son, a talented chemistry teacher, who died at the same Swiss clinic as Wendy Duffy. Judith Hamilton, 84, spent a week believing her son Alastair was missing, only to discover he had travelled to Pegasos Clinic in Basel to end his life without informing his family.
Deception and discovery
Alastair Hamilton, 47, from Hampton, south west London, told his mother he was visiting a friend in Paris. Instead, he flew to Switzerland, where he died at the clinic in August 2023. Judith recalled her final conversation with him: “He told me he was going to visit a friend in Paris and I spoke to him when he’d been there a couple of days. He said he was going to stay on for a couple more days and I was asking him where he’d visited.” When his calls and texts suddenly stopped, Judith contacted the police. “They found out from his bank records he’d actually gone to Pegasos. They had to get Swiss police involved, the British Embassy was involved, and Interpol. It was a nightmare for us to get any information,” she said.
Clinic’s failures
Pegasos’ own guidelines state that the clinic “requires that you inform your family at some point, even if you know that they will not be supportive.” However, Judith says this procedure was not followed. The clinic claims they were told that Alastair’s friend had informed the family, but they did not carry out further checks. In a 2024 ITV investigation, Judith and her sons Toby and Bradley confronted the clinic. A representative apologised and vowed that in future, patients would be asked to contact their families in the clinic’s presence.
Ongoing heartache
Wendy Duffy’s assisted death last week has brought fresh “heartache” for Judith. “It’s just such a heartbreaking scenario for these the families left behind,” she said. “I am nothing like the woman I was before he died. It’s just a permanent sadness in my heart.” Alastair had been suffering from abdominal pain and weight loss, but no diagnosis was confirmed. He moved back home months before his death. Judith questions why healthy people are allowed to end their lives, noting that Dignitas would not have accepted Alastair as he was still mobile and undergoing investigations.
Call for change
Judith wants families to be informed so they can offer support or persuade their loved ones not to go through with it. “We were robbed of that chance,” she said. She criticises Pegasos for what she sees as a business-like approach, charging around CHF10,000 for assisted dying. A Pegasos representative said the clinic regrets any distress caused and has changed its processes. Meanwhile, Alistair Thompson of Care Not Killing argues for better palliative care and mental health support to prevent such tragedies.
