In what is believed to be the first-ever use of suicide pods to end a life, Swiss police have announced that they have opened a criminal investigation and arrested several individuals following the suspected death of a woman in a “suicide capsule.” The incident reportedly took place on Monday afternoon, involving the use of the Sarco Pod, a controversial device, in a forest near the town of Merishausen, close to the German border.
The deceased was identified as a 64-year-old American woman. Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where assisted suicide is legal, but only under specific conditions. This marks the first known use of the Sarco Pod, which has sparked significant debate due to its method and lack of medical supervision.
The first person to use the Sarco suicide pod got into the device and ‘almost immediately pressed the button’ to take her own life, its creator has claimed. The capsule is designed to allow a person inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber, causing hypoxia and death soon after. It was set up in a woodland near a cabin in Merishausen, northern Switzerland, with the pod’s window allowing the 64-year-old American woman to see the trees and sky above her before she died.
The woman, believed to be a mother-of-two from the American mid-west, had reportedly been suffering from ‘a very serious illness that involves severe pain’ and had wished to die for ‘at least two years’.
Swiss police have launched an investigation after the woman’s death. Several people have been taken into custody and face criminal charges, the authorities announced. The action came after police learned that the Sarco suicide capsule had been used in a forest area the previous day.
The “Sarco” capsule, which has never been used before, is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes. Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, said it is behind the 3D-printed device that cost over $1 million to develop.
Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person die do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” according to a government website.
A law firm informed prosecutors in Schaffhausen canton that an “assisted suicide” involving the Sarco had taken place Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen, regional police said in a statement, adding that “several people” were taken into custody and prosecutors opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide.
Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported that police had detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the use of the Sarco. It said Schaffhausen police had indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but declined to give a further explanation.
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.”
In July, Swiss newspaper Blick reported that Peter Sticher, a state prosecutor in Schaffhausen, wrote to Exit International’s lawyers saying any operator of the suicide capsule could face criminal proceedings if it was used there — and any conviction could bring up to five years in prison. Prosecutors in other Swiss regions have also indicated that the use of the suicide capsule could lead to prosecution.
(With AP Inputs)
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