An American woman became the first person to be killed using a “Sarco suicide capsule.”
Swiss police said on Monday that two people had been arrested for helping to use the unapproved Dutch-made device.
Invented by controversial assisted death activist Dr. Philip Nitschke, the 3D-printed capsule is designed to kill its occupants by depriving them of oxygen by filling them with nitrogen gas.
The country’s Interior Minister said on Monday that this was not in accordance with Swiss law, “did not meet product safety requirements” and that using nitrogen in this way did not comply with chemical regulations in Switzerland.
Swiss police said Tuesday they arrested two people for aiding and abetting the death of an American woman in a forest area in the northern town of Schaffhausen, close to the German border.
A photographer from Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant was on the scene to capture the moment the capsule was first used. The newspaper said the photographer was detained by police.
In July 2023, Last Resort, the Swiss organization set up to develop the capsule, which states that “a good death is a fundamental human right,” confirmed in a statement that a 64-year-old woman died after using the device.
“On Monday, September 23, at approximately 4:01 p.m. local time, a 64-year-old woman living in the Midwestern United States lost her life using a Sarco device,” the statement said.
The company said that, contrary to police reports, its co-chairman, Dr. Florian Willet, was the only person present at the time of death.
Dr Willet said the woman’s death was “peaceful, swift and dignified” and occurred “in the shade of trees in a private forest area in the Canton of Schaffhausen, close to the Swiss-German border”.
The organisation said the woman had “suffered for many years from a range of serious problems” associated with her “severe” immune deficiency.
Earlier this month, retired British couple Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, announced they had decided to end their lives in solitary confinement at the same time after Ms Scott, a former nurse, was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.
The 80-year-old woman and her 86-year-old husband, who have six grandchildren, are on a waiting list of 120 applicants to use the device, according to Last Resort. Around a quarter of those on the list are said to be British.
Under Swiss law, assisting another person to die is not a crime unless there is a selfish purpose.
However, some districts, including Schaffhausen, have threatened criminal action if the suicide capsule is used in their areas.
On Monday, federal councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said the capsule was not compliant with Swiss law because it did not meet market safety requirements and the use of nitrogen was illegal.
A cabin the size of a coffin
According to De Volkskrant, the woman, whose name was not disclosed and who came to Switzerland for this purpose, started the assisted suicide process by pressing a button while lying in a coffin-sized capsule with windows in the forest on Monday afternoon.
The outlet said its photographer was arrested by police after he took early photos of the scene. A lawyer, who was the only person present at the time of the death, is also thought to have been arrested.
The woman’s death was confirmed by the capsule’s inventor, Australian Dr. Nitschke, who monitored her oxygen and heart rate remotely via a camera in Germany.
Sarco was set up in a remote location in the open air. Through a window, the woman could see nature, trees and sky in her final moments.
It was reported that Dr. Willet, Dr. Nitschke’s wife, later notified the police and the Schaffhausen prosecutor who arrived at the scene, and the prosecutor’s office made arrests and seized the capsule.
The body was taken to the Forensic Medicine Institute for autopsy.
Last Resort said the woman had made a verbal statement to her advisory board lawyer Fiona Stewart before her death, stating that she wanted to die.
In the four-minute recording, he said he had wanted to die for “at least two years” after being diagnosed with a very serious illness and suffering from severe pain.
He said his two sons “completely agree” that it was his decision. “They are behind me 100 percent.”
Stewart said both of his sons, who are not in Switzerland, confirmed this separately in written statements to Last Resort.
“When she registered, she said she wanted to die as soon as possible,” Ms. Stewart said. The American woman was examined by a psychiatrist with no psychiatric background, who found her to be competent, she added.
Controversial activist
Dr. Nitschke’s actions have been controversial in the past. In 2006, he caused a worldwide uproar when he published The Peaceful Pill Handbook, detailing dozens of suicide methods. He moved to the Netherlands a decade ago.
“What if we dared to imagine that our last day on this planet would also be our most exciting?” he once said of Sarco.
“The day we die is one of the most important days of our lives,” he told De Volkskrant. “When death becomes inevitable, why don’t we embrace it? With this capsule you can die wherever you want: with a view of the mountains or the ocean.
“Apart from this device, almost nothing is needed: no injections from a doctor, no hard-to-obtain illicit drugs. This de-medicalizes death.”
According to Dr. Nitschke, the woman’s death was an important step for organizations fighting for self-determination regarding death.
He said he has tested the shell several times beforehand, even lying in it for five minutes with an oxygen mask over his face while it was filled with nitrogen this spring.
He told De Volkskrant that his invention was a more elegant version of “using gas and bags” [one’s] He said the phrase “head” was similar to when the cabin pressure drops on an airplane and passengers are left without oxygen.
“We know from survivors that it doesn’t feel like suffocation,” he is quoted as saying. “People just keep breathing. After half a minute, they start to lose their bearings.
“They don’t really realize what’s happening to them. Some of them experience a mild euphoria. Then they just fall asleep.”
According to Last Resort, the woman paid just 18 Swiss francs (£16) for the nitrogen.
“Sarco is free to use,” Ms Stewart said. “We don’t want to make money from this.” She said she had to pay additional costs such as having the woman cremated, adding that other legal assisted death organisations charged thousands of dollars for disposal of the body.
Dignitas’ Objections
But other Swiss-backed death row organisations opposed Sarco.
Dignitas told the SWI news site that professional medical suicide assistance “must be performed by trained personnel and every accompanying suicide is checked by the authorities (prosecutor’s office, police and paramedic).”
“In light of this legally secure, established and proven practice, we cannot imagine that a technological capsule for self-determined end of life would find much acceptance or interest in Switzerland,” it said.
Medical intervention also acts as a “gatekeeper” to prevent unnecessary suicides, according to Erika Preisig, a doctor and president of the Basel-based Lifecircle organisation.
“I fear that people who do not have sufficient information about alternatives to suicide and who have not carefully considered their death wishes will be unconscionably helped to die,” he told SWI.
Swiss organisations also describe Sarco as inhumane because the person must die “alone” in a sealed capsule, separate from relatives.
Dr Nitschke wants the Sarco pod to be used elsewhere and recently wrote to MSP Liam McArthur, who is aiming to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland, pressing him to introduce the device.
