The creators of the Sarco suicide pod have confirmed its first use, with a 64-year-old American woman becoming the first person to die in the device "beneath a canopy of trees" in Switzerland. Police in Switzerland said that several people were detained on Monday, and an investigation has been launched on suspicion of incitement and accessory in a suicide.
According to its developers, the "Sarco" capsule is designed to allow the people inside to press a button, releasing nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then expected to fall asleep and die from suffocation within minutes. Last Resort, the Swiss firm behind Sarco, said the woman died peacefully.
Controversial Choice of Suicide
Police said that prosecutors in the Schaffhausen canton were notified by a law firm that an assisted suicide using the Sarco capsule had taken place on Monday near a cabin in the woods in Merishausen.
The woman who passed away in the capsule had reportedly been suffering from "a very serious illness that involves severe pain" and had expressed her desire to die for "at least two years."
The Swiss company behind the Sarco, The Last Resort, released a statement confirming, "On Monday 23 September, at approximately 16.01 CEST, a 64-year old woman from the the mid-west in the USA died using the Sarco device." Contrary to police reports, the company said that Florian Willet, the co-president, was the only person present during the death.
According to the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, police arrested one of their photographers who tried to take photos of the Sarco in use. Schaffhausen police confirmed the photographer was being held at a local station but declined to provide additional details.
Last Resort said that Willet described the woman's death as "peaceful, fast, and dignified," occurring "under a canopy of trees at a private forest retreat in the Schaffhausen canton, close to the Swiss-German border." The organization noted that the woman had endured several years of serious health issues related to a compromised immune system.
Philip Nitschke, the Sarco's inventor, said that the device "had performed exactly as it had been designed to do," offering a "non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person's choosing."
Police and forensic teams quickly arrived at the scene following a notification from a legal firm about the assisted suicide.
Illegal Suicide, Investigation On
The Last Resort had expected an investigation and had informed authorities that the device had been used. Police confiscated the Sarco capsule and detained several people from the Merishausen area.
A post-mortem will be conducted by the Institute of Legal Medicine Zurich (IRMZ). Fiona Stewart, a member of The Last Resort Advisory Board and legal counsel, said that the organization followed their lawyers' guidance throughout the process.
The device was used on the same day that Swiss Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told the National Council that she views the use of the Sarco in Switzerland as illegal.
"The Sarco suicide capsule is not legal in two respects,' Baume-Schneider reportedly said.
"On one hand, it does not fulfill 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."
Switzerland is one of the few countries where foreigners can legally travel to end their lives, and it hosts several organizations focused on assisting people with suicide. Some Swiss lawmakers have argued that the legal framework is vague and have pushed to close what they refer to as legal loopholes.
