WEndy Duffy was 56 years old and a physically healthy, but heartbroken womanwho today chose to die by assisted suicide at the Pegasos clinic in Switzerland. He had already attempted suicide four years agoafter the death of his son Marcus. Since then “I no longer feel any joy,” he explained to the Daily Mail. «I have no desire to continue living. I won’t change my mind. Be happy for me. So that I can die with a smile on my face.” This case of euthanasia shocks Great Britain, and everyone.
Wendy took it in her stride. Before going to Switzerland he waited for his dogs to die of old age. He left a letter for each of his loved ones, his brothers and sisters, his closest friends. He has chosen what he will wear and the song he will listen to in his final moments.
Wendy Duffy is dead: the shocking euthanasia of a healthy woman
A former home care worker from the West Midlands, she explained to the Daily Mail that he paid $13,500 to Pegasos to be able to undergo euthanasia under their supervision.
And if there is a lot of pain in this story, marked by personal tragedy, it also faces a political theme: the public discussion on the law on assisted dying, approved by the House of Commons, but not by that of the Lords. The bill aims to legalize assisted suicide in England and Wales but for terminally ill patients, limited to those with a life expectancy of less than six months. It certainly wouldn’t cover cases like Wendy’s. What law, in our time, would cover it?
Wendy Duffy lost her son four years ago. Since then he had no longer found meaning in his life (Getty Images)
The death of her son Marcus and Wendy Duffy’s first suicide attempt
Yet her choice to die had a clear and ineradicable root in her: the death of his son Marcus, in heartbreaking circumstances, four years ago. After a night out, the boy fell asleep on the sofa while eating a sandwich, with a hangover: a cherry tomato went wrong, and Wendy found herself in every parent’s worst nightmare.
He had medical training, so he tried: He laid Marcus on the floor and began CPR while screaming for help. The boy was rushed to hospital, in vain. Wendy stayed by his side for five days before the machines keeping him alive were disconnected.
TOYears of therapy didn’t help. The antidepressant drugs didn’t help, and the suicide attempt didn’t work with an overdose: Wendy Duffy remained intubated for two weeks. Then he started again, not living.
The request for assisted suicide in Switzerland
At the beginning of 2025 he submitted a formal application to the Swiss Pegasos clinic, the only European facility that accepts patients whose desire for death does not derive from a terminal illness, but from psychiatric suffering. Ten thousand pounds. A psychiatric evaluation. The green light.
This time he had sought a “cleaner” death. «I could jump off a highway bridge or a skyscraper, but whoever found me would have to deal with consequences for the rest of their lives.».
We can imagine her dying: we can imagine her listening Die With A Smile by Lady Gaga. So he chose. While a part of the world wonders if an unprocessed mourning, or an implicit sense of guilt, or an extreme inner loneliness gives “the right to dieThe others, perhaps, have no words.