A 64-year-old woman took her own life on September 23 inside the space-age looking Sarco capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, outside a village near the German border. Several people were arrested at the scene, with all but one being quickly released. The public prosecutor in the northern canton of Schaffhausen did not name the remaining suspect in custody. However, The Last Resort, an assisted dying organisation, had recently said the association’s co-president Florian Willet – the only other person present at the death – was the man still being held.
The public prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it had originally opened criminal proceedings on the grounds of incitement and aiding and abetting suicide, with strong suspicion of intentional homicide. “Based on the latest investigation status, there is still a strong suspicion of the crime of incitement and aiding and abetting suicide, but no longer of intentional homicide, even if the autopsy report… is not yet available,” it said. “The public prosecutor’s office has therefore released the last detained person from custody,” it said, adding: “The presumption of innocence applies.”
The Last Resort presented the Sarco pod in Zurich in July, saying they expected it to be used for the first time within months. The capsule fills with nitrogen and causes loss of consciousness and death by hypoxia within five minutes, according to the organisation. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country but assisted dying has been legal for decades.
Swiss law generally allows assisted suicide if the person commits the lethal act themselves, and The Last Resort said it saw no legal obstacle to its use in the country. However, on the same day the Sarco was used, Switzerland’s Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told lawmakers that the device was “not legal”.
The Last Resort said the person who died – who was not named – was a 64-year-old woman from the midwestern United States. She “had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems associated with severe immune compromise”, the organisation said.
The 3D-printable capsule cost more than 650,000 euros ($680,000) to research and develop in the Netherlands over 12 years. The organisation said future reusable Sarco pods could cost around 15,000 euros.
The people who made the Sarco and their organization is not for profit as far as I know, in fact they specifically rebuke the industry around assisted dying in Switzerland which charges people 10,000 Swiss francs for a peaceful death.
There is also a rigorous pre-aproval process which was well documented, which I imagine is why they had to let everyone go.
There is a very interesting write up here:
https://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/first-woman-dies-in-suicide-capsule-in-switzerland~bb2fa6aa/
Here is the English translation:
The woman’s death was confirmed by physician Philip Nitschke, creator of the capsule and an internationally known advocate of the right to die movement.
The American woman, who traveled to Switzerland for this purpose, initiated her dying process herself by pressing a button while lying in the capsule. The air in the cabin was then rapidly replaced by nitrogen gas, causing the oxygen level to drop to a deadly level within a minute. Nitrogen is not poisonous. The woman lost consciousness and died of hypoxia, the lack of oxygen, says the organization that accompanied her.
Arrests after the suicide
The police of Schaffhausen, the Swiss canton in which the suicide took place, detained a Volkskrant photographer on Monday who followed the case closely and wanted to take photos. The newspaper was unable to contact the photographer for hours. Late Monday evening, police in Schaffhausen confirmed that the photographer was being held at the police station. The police did not want to provide any further explanation.
The police may also have detained director Florian Willet of the Swiss organization The Last Resort, who was present at the suicide. Swiss police declined to comment on Tuesday morning, only confirming that police had carried out an ‘operation’ near Schaffhausen the day before.
The right to die movement
The Sarco was designed and built in the Netherlands. Creator Nitschke (77), an Australian doctor and physicist who lived in the Netherlands for the past ten years, has worked on the development of the capsule for twelve years. Nitschke is the founder of Exit International, a movement with 30,000 members who are searching for the best methods for a dignified, self-chosen death. This is difficult, because ‘humane’, deadly drugs are very hard to obtain. The woman’s death is an important step for the right to die movement, according to Nitschke.
Nitschke has tested his capsule several times. In May he lay down in the capsule filled with nitrogen gas for five minutes with an oxygen mask on his face, as seen by de Volkskrant.
More elegant variant
According to Nitschke, his invention is a more elegant variant of people who kill themselves using gas in a bag over their head. He says death in the Sarco is similar to the death that follows when cabin pressure is lost in an airplane and passengers are left without oxygen. ‘We know from people who have survived that this doesn’t feel like suffocating’, he says. ‘You just keep on breathing. After half a minute people start to feel disoriented. They’re not really being aware of what is happening to them. This is often accompanied by a feeling of mild euphoria. And then they just slip away.’
The 64-year-old woman died at an estimated time of 4:01 PM in the afternoon in the Sarco, says Nitschke. She was in the presence of Florian Willet, the director of The Last Resort, a Swiss assisted suicide organization that supervised the procedure. He was the only person present at her death.
The Last Resort was founded in July 2023 in Switzerland specifically for the use of the Sarco. According to the organization, a good death is a ‘fundamental human right’. The Last Resort chose Switzerland as its base because it is one of the few countries in the world where assisted suicide is permitted under certain conditions. In the Netherlands this is illegal.
‘She really wanted to die’
Nitschke, who is technical advisor to The Last Resort, followed the death of the woman from Germany, via an oxygen and a heart rate monitor and a camera in the Sarco. The dying process went ‘well’, he said to de Volkskrant. 'When she entered the Sarco, she almost immediately pressed the button. She didn’t say anything. She really wanted to die. My estimate is that she lost consciousness within 2 minutes and that she died after five minutes. We saw jerky, small twitches of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then. It looked exactly how we expected it to look.’
The Sarco was set up outside in a remote area in Switzerland, near the German border. Through a window the woman had a view of nature during her last moments. She could see the sky and the trees that surrounded the capsule. After her death, The Last Resort informed the Swiss police.
Rules of the Chemicals Act
Until recently, the Swiss government did not comment on whether the Sarco is legal. Supervising authority Swissmedic stated that the Sarco is not a medical device, so therefore no permit is required. Moreover, nitrogen, a gas that is present in the air, is not registered as a medicine. On Monday however, Swiss Minister of Internal Affairs Elisabeth Baume-Schneider stated that, in her opinion, the Sarco would not meet product safety requirements and that nitrogen in the Sarco does not meet the rules of the Chemicals Act, writes Swiss newspaper NZZ.
Before using the Sarco the American woman made an oral statement to lawyer Fiona Stewart, one of the members of the Advisory Board of The Last Resort. Stewart is also Nitschke’s wife. The statement was listened to by Volkskrant, with her permission.
Serious illness and severe pain
In the recording, which lasts just over four minutes, the woman confirms that it was her own wish to die. She says that she has had a desire to die for ‘at least two years’, ever since she was diagnosed with a very serious illness that causes severe pain. She also states that her two sons ‘completely agree’ that this is her decision. ‘They support me 100 percent’, she said. Stewart from The Last Resort says both sons also confirmed this through written statements to The Last Resort. The sons were not present in Switzerland.
The American woman was examined in advance by a psychiatrist, who deemed her competent, says Stewart. ‘When she registered, she said that she would like to die as quickly as possible.’ According to her the woman did not have a psychiatric history.
‘Dr. Death’
Nitschke’s actions often sparked heated debates in the past. Some journalists nicknamed him ‘Dr Death’. In 2006, he caused a worldwide stir with a book in which he describes dozens of suicide methods in detail: The Peaceful Pill Handbook. Due to the fuss about his activities, he moved to the Netherlands ten years ago.
He announced his latest invention, the Sarco, in the Huffington Post with the words: ‘What if we dared to imagine that our last day on this planet might also be one of our most exciting?’
‘The day you die is one of the most important days of your life’, Nitschke says de Volkskrant. ‘When it becomes inevitable, why don’t we embrace it? With this machine you can die anywhere you want: with a view of the mountains or of the waves of the ocean. And apart from this device, you don’t need much: no doctor putting a needle into your veins, no illegal drugs that are difficult to obtain. This demedicalizes death.’
‘Free to use’
It is still unclear how Swiss justice will react to this. The conditions set by the country are that the person with the death wish is mentally competent, that they carry out the final deadly act themselves and that the people who help have altruistic motives.
According to The Last Resort, the woman paid nothing for the Sarco, with the exception of 18 Swiss francs for the nitrogen tank and her funeral costs. ‘Using the Sarco is free’, Stewart states. ‘That is part of our philosophy. We don’t want to make any money on this. ’
3D printers
There are several organizations in Switzerland that help people die. This is done with the help of doctors. Every year, hundreds of foreigners travel to the country for this purpose - and their number is growing. Critics refer to this as ‘suicide tourism’. The Last Resort sharply criticizes the high amounts charged by these organizations. ‘There is no moral mandate to charge 10,000 Swiss francs plus for assistance in a peaceful and reliable suicide’, they say on their website.
The Sarco was manufactured with the help of 3D printers. Creator Philip Nitschke plans to publish the blueprints in his handbook. The Last Resort also wants to open the suicide capsule to others in the future. They already have a waiting list, Stewart says. One of the conditions will be that people are over 50. ‘This is not for young people’, Stewart says. ‘We don’t want to encourage suicide.’
You’ve mentioned a suicide method handbook. I would suggest you edit your post and remove mention of it.