4 Arrested In Switzerland After 1st Assisted Death Through Controversial 'Suicide Pod'

The group behind the capsule, The Last Resort, said that the deceased was an American woman, 64, who had been suffering from a severely compromised immune system.

Police in Switzerland have arrested four people after a woman died by suicide for the first time in the controversial futuristic-looking 'Sarco suicide pod' on Monday. According to a Reuters report, authorities in the northern region of Schaffhausen, near the German border, said the capsule was used in a wooded hut in the municipality of Merishausen.

Prosecutors in Schaffhausen have launched criminal proceedings against multiple individuals for "inducing and aiding and abetting suicide", Reuters cited a police statement as saying. It noted that several people were detained, though no details were provided about the deceased or those who were detained. 

As per a BBC report, while assisted death is legally protected to some degree in Switzerland, it is strictly regulated, and the Sarco pod has encountered opposition. Police reportedly said they were tipped off by a law firm about a suicide involving the device. 

As per Reuters, a spokesperson for the group behind the capsule, The Last Resort, said that the deceased was an American woman, 64. She had been suffering from a severely compromised immune system. Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, was among the four detainees, along with a Dutch journalist and two Swiss people, the spokesperson told Reuters. Willet was the only other person present when the woman ended her life, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the woman had passed psychiatric evaluations before ending her life, as per Reuters. 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Schaffhausen declined to provide details or confirm there were four detainees.

The ‘Sarco’ capsule is designed with sleek, aerodynamic lines. The 3D-printed device induces death by releasing nitrogen gas inside the capsule, which reduces the oxygen level to lethal amounts. It is the brainchild of Philip Nitschke, an Australian physician famous for his work on assisted suicide since the 1990s.

Switzerland has been a magnet for advocates of assisted suicide due to laws that make it legal there, and The Last Resort says its legal advice was that it could be deployed, as per Reuters. 

According to BBC, in July, a pro-assisted dying group, which promotes the Sarco device, said it anticipated that it would be used for the first time this year. However, critics fear the device's modern design glamorises suicide, and say the fact that it can be operated without medical oversight is concerning.