Suicide pod used for the first time as woman dies in machine dubbed ‘Tesla of euthanasia’

Tuesday, September 24, 2024 - A controversial suicide pod has been used for the first time.

The “Sarco” su!cide capsule, which has never been used before, is designed to allow a person inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and d!e by suffocation in a few minutes.

Exit International, an assisted su!cide group based in the Netherlands, has said it is behind the 3D-printed device that cost more than one million dollars to develop.

In a statement, the group said a 64-year-old woman from the US Midwest who had suffered from “severe immune compromise” had died on Monday afternoon, September 23, near the German border using the Sarco device.

It said Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, a Swiss affiliate of Exit International, was the only person present and described her de@th as “peaceful, fast and dignified.”

Prosecutors in Schaffhausen said they were informed by a law firm that an assisted su!cide involving use of the Sarco capsule had taken place on Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen.

Police said “several” people were taken into custody and prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to su!cide.

Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported on Tuesday, September 24, that police had detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the use of the Sarco.

It said Schaffhausen police indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but declined to give a further explanation.

Voluntary assisted su!cide, in which somebody is given the means to end their own life, has long been legal in Switzerland.

Dr Philip Nitschke, an Australian-born trained doctor behind Exit International, has previously told the AP that his organisation received advice from lawyers in Switzerland that use of the Sarco would be legal in the country.

In the Exit International statement on Tuesday, September 24, Dr Nitschke said he was “pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed … to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person’s choosing.”

Swiss law allows assisted su!cide so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person d!e do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” according to a government website.

Switzerland is among the only countries in the world where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives, and is home to a number of organisations that are dedicated to helping people k!ll themselves.

Some legislators in Switzerland have argued that the law is unclear and have sought to close what they call legal loopholes.

On Monday, health minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider was asked in the Swiss parliament about the legal conditions for the use of the Sarco capsule, and suggested its use would not be legal.

“On one hand, it does not fulfil the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation,” she said. “On the other hand, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the article on purpose in the chemicals law.”