A 54 year-old American doctor and her 49 year-old nurse sister died by assisted suicide after vanishing during a trip to Switzerland.
Lila Ammouri, 54, a palliative care doctor, and Susan Frazier, 49, a nurse, traveled to Basel, Switzerland on February 3, from the home in Phoenix and spoke to their brother Cal Ammouri, 60, shortly before.
Frazier’s employer, Aetna Health in Phoenix, raised the alarm after she failed to return to work on February 15. The sister’s deaths were confirmed by the US Consulate on February 18, although their exact date of death remains unclear.
Ammouri says his siblings appeared healthy and happy, and has not given any indication as to whether they were suffering any illness that could have driven them to
They are said to have arrived in Switzerland on February 5, but never got their flight home.
A spokesman for the Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to The Independent that the sisters had died by suicide ‘within the legal framework’.
It is unclear how or where the sisters’ died. Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland. Dignitas is the most famous suicide clinic, but is based in a different Canton (county) to where the sisters took their lives.
Basel is home to an assisted suicide facility called Pegasos, which is a non-profit whose website says: ‘Pegasos believes that it is the human right of every rational adult of sound mind, regardless of state of health, to choose the manner and timing of their death.’
Lila Ammouri, left, and her sister Susan Frazier, right, both died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, their brother has revealed
Other clinics across Switzerland also offer similar services, with patients given a solution of barbiturates dissolved in water, which guarantees a painless death after being consumed.
Visitors to the clinics must undergo stringent checks before being allowed to avail of their services.
Pegasos, in particular, which has English speakers on staff, requires looking for assisted suicides to be members of the organizations and pay fees that exceed $11,000.
Pegasos has no required waiting period for assisted suicide but does require consultations and paperwork be completed first.
Patients are given the option of intravenous infusion or a small drink that provide a lethal overdose that will lull them to sleep and result in death.
Cal, of New York, said is unclear why his sisters chose to end their lives, and that U.S. consular services have kept him in the dark.
‘This is the most terrible thing that’s ever happened to me,’ Cal told DailyMail.com ‘ I’m an only child now. I don’t understand any of it.’
Suicide is legal at Switzerland’s famous Dignitas clinic, with visitors required to undergo a series of checks before being allowed to end their lives.
According to Cal and long-time friends of the women, the sisters were do back at work at Aetna Health Insurance on February 15 but never showed up.
The grieving brother said that both sisters appeared happy, with Lila owning a home in Phoenix and enjoying her job helping patients with serious illnesses and pain and Susan recently getting a promotion.
‘Why would you leave your jobs, your home, your loved ones, just abandon everything,’ Cal asked. ‘I just want some answers.’
Michael Lutz, a spokesperson for the Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor’s Office, told The Independent that the sisters death did not immediately result in a criminal investigation since it was strictly performed through legal means.
Swiss authorities are currently working with investigators from the Phoenix Police Department to learn what happened to the two sisters. Phoenix Police did not immediately return DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The sister’s death was confirmed by the U.S. Consulate in Switzerland on February 18, weeks after friends and loved ones took to the Internet to spread awareness over their disappearance.
Dr. Majid Bilgari, a longtime friend of the sisters, said no one had heard from the duo since February 9, four days after they arrives in Switzerland.
Prior to that, Bilgari told Fox 10 that co-workers had been texting them and felt that the person responding was not actually one of the sisters.
‘Some of the text communications they had, we are certain they were not from them,’ Biglari said. ‘They were most likely fabricated with someone else.’
Like Cal, Bilgari mentioned that both sisters were happy and it was not like them to suddenly go missing.
Bilgari did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
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