by An American woman is the first person to die using a “Sarco suicide pod”.
Two people were arrested on charges of helping her use the unapproved, Dutch-made device, Swiss police said Monday.
The 3D printed capsule, invented by controversial activist Dr. Philip Nitschke, is designed to kill its occupant by oxygenating them while filling with nitrogen gas.
It is not in compliance with Swiss law, according to the country’s interior minister, who said on Monday that it “does not meet product safety requirements” and that the use of such nitrogen does not meet chemical regulations in Switzerland.
On Tuesday, Swiss police said they had arrested two people for aiding the death of a US woman in a wooded area in Schaffhausen, a northern town near the German border.
A photographer from the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant was on hand to capture the moment the pod was used for the first time. He was detained by police, the newspaper said.
Last Option – the Swiss organization set up in July 2023 specifically to develop the pod which says “a good death is a basic human right” – confirmed in a statement that a 64-year-old woman had died after using the device use.
He said: “On Monday September 23, at approximately 4.01pm local time, a 64-year-old woman from the US midwest died while using the Sarco device.”
The firm said its co-president, Dr Florian Willet, was the only person present for the death, contrary to police reports.
Dr Willet said the woman’s death was “peaceful, quick and dignified”, taking place “under a canopy of trees, in a private forest retreat in Canton Schaffhausen close to the border between Switzerland and Germany”.
The organization said the woman had been “suffering for many years from several serious problems” related to “severe immunodeficiency”.
Earlier this month, Peter and Christine Scott, a retired British couple married for 46 years, said they decided to end their lives at the same time in the pod after Mrs Scott, a former nurse, was diagnosed with early stage. vascular dementia.
The 80-year-old and her husband, 86, who have six grandchildren, are on a waiting list of 120 applicants to use the device, according to Last Resort, of which around a quarter are said to be British. list.
Under Swiss law, it is not a criminal offense to assist another person to die, as long as there is no selfish motive.
However, many areas, including Schaffhausen, risk criminal proceedings if the suicide pod is used in their territory.
On Monday, federal adviser Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said the capsule did not comply with Swiss law because it failed to meet market safety requirements and the use of nitrogen was illegal.
A coffin-sized cabin
According to De Volkskrant, the unnamed woman, who traveled to Switzerland especially for this purpose, began the process of assisted suicide on Monday evening in a forest by pressing a button while lying in the cave – a coffin cabin with a window .
The news outlet said its photographer was being detained by police after taking a photo of the scene beforehand. A lawyer who was the only person present at the time of death was also thought to have been arrested.
The woman’s death was confirmed by Dr Nitschke, the Australian inventor of the pod, who monitored her oxygen and heart rate remotely via a German camera.
The Sarco was established outdoors, in a remote location. Through a window, the woman had a view of nature, trees and the sky during her last moments.
Then Dr. Willet, who is Dr. Nitschke’s wife, sent the police and the Schaffhausen public prosecutor who came to the scene and made the arrests and confiscated the capsule, according to reports.
The body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.
Last Resort said the woman who died made a verbal statement before her death to Fiona Stewart, a lawyer on the advisory board, expressing her wish to die.
In the four-minute recording, she said she wanted to die for “at least two years”, ever since she was diagnosed with a very serious illness that involves severe pain.
She insisted that her two sons “absolutely” agree that this was her decision. “They are behind me 100 percent.”
Ms Stewart said the two sons, who are not present in Switzerland, confirmed this separately in written statements to Last Resort.
“When she signed up, she said she wanted to die as soon as possible,” Ms Stewart said. The American woman was examined by a psychiatrist, who found her to be competent, with no psychiatric history, she said.
Controversial activist
Dr Nitschke’s actions have caused controversy in the past. In 2006, he caused a global stir by publishing The Peaceful Pill Handbook, in which he described in detail the many methods of suicide. He moved to the Netherlands ten years ago.
“What if we dared to imagine that our last day on this planet would also be our most exciting day?” he once said on the Sarco.
“The day we die is one of the most important days of our lives,” he told De Volkskrant. “When death is inevitable, why don’t we accept it? With this capsule, you can die anywhere you want: in view of the mountains, or the ocean.
“Apart from this device, almost nothing is needed: no injection from a doctor, no hard-to-find illegal drugs. This makes death unhealing.”
According to Dr. Nitschke, the woman’s death was an important step for organizations fighting for self-determination when it comes to death.
He said he tested his pot several times beforehand, even lying in it for five minutes this spring with an oxygen mask on his face, filled with nitrogen.
He told De Volkskrant that his invention was a more elegant version of “using gas and a bag [one’s] one”, adding that it was more like passengers experiencing oxygen starvation when cabin pressure drops in an airplane.
“We know from survivors that it doesn’t feel like asthma,” he says. “People keep breathing. After half a minute they start to collide.
“They don’t really notice what’s happening to them. They experience mild euphoria. Then they go away.”
According to Last Option, the woman only paid a fee of 18 Swiss francs (£16) for the nitrogen.
“The use of the Sarco is free,” said Ms Stewart. “We don’t want to make any money out of this.” The woman had to pay extra costs, such as cremation, she said, adding that other legal aid dying organizations charge thousands for disposing of the body.
Objections from Dignitas
However, other dying Swiss organizations have shown their opposition to Sarco.
Dignitas told the SWI news site that “professional suicide medical assistance must be carried out by trained staff and that the authorities (the public prosecutor’s office, police and medical officers) check all accompanying suicides).
“Given this legally established, established and proven practice, we cannot imagine that a technological capsule for self-determined end of life will gain much acceptance or interest in Switzerland,” he said.
According to Erika Preisig, a doctor and president of the Basel-based organization Lifecircle, medical intervention acts as a “springboard” to prevent unnecessary suicide.
“I am afraid that the death of people who do not know enough about alternatives to suicide and who have not thought carefully about their desire to die will be unscrupulously assisted,” she told SWI.
Swiss organizations also describe Sarco as inhumane, because the person must die “alone” in a closed capsule, separated from his relatives.
Dr. Nitschke wants to use the Sarco pod elsewhere. He recently wrote to Liam McArthur, the MSP seeking to legalize assisted suicide in Scotland, urging him to introduce the device.
