Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing
The creator of controversial Sarco ‘suicide pod’ in Switzerland has spoken out after police detained ‘several people’ following the pods being used for the first time.
Swiss company The Last Resort is behind the pods, which provides assisted suicide treatments to patients.
Dr Philip Nitschke, who is known as ‘Dr Death’, is responsible for creating the device. It promises a painless method of suicide, the company says.
Philip Nitschke created the pod (JASPER JUINEN/AFP via Getty Images)
The suicide pods have now been used for the first time, with an American woman travelling to Switzerland to end her life.
She pressed a button inside the capsule, which filled the chamber with nitrogen gas.
Breathing levels became toxic within a minute, with her losing consciousness before passing away from hypoxia – a lack of oxygen to the brain.
Speaking on her decision to travel to Switzerland and end her life willingly, Dr Nitschke said she ‘really wanted to die’.
Speaking to de Volkskrant, he said: “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 two minutes and that she died after five minutes.”
The pods on display during a press event (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
He added: “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.”
Taking to X after news broke that police had detained several people in connection to the use of the Sarco pod, he wrote: “What Swiss police didn’t mention was that those arrested included the Director of The Last Resort, two lawyers providing legal assistance to TLR, and a Dutch journalist!!”
He also added in another tweet sharing news that the Sarco pod had been used for the first time: “An idyllic peaceful death in a Swiss forest where The Last Resort used the Sarco device to help a US woman have the death she wanted.”
The exact location of the suicide pods hasn’t been revealed to the public but is known to be near the German border in a wooded area.
Following her death, police detained ‘several people’ with a criminal case opened in connection to her death.
Prosecutors in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen were informed that an assisted suicide involving use of the Sarco capsule had taken place on Monday near a forest cabin in Merishausen, police said in a statement.
The statement said that prosecutors had now opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide.
Those using the pods press a button before the device is then filled with nitrogen gas (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
A statement reads: “The public prosecutor’s office of the canton of Schaffhausen was on Monday, 23. September 2024 at 4:40 p.m. from a law firm that an accompanied suicide with the capsule Sarco had taken place in the afternoon at a forest hut in Merishausen.
“As a result, the Schaffhausen police, including the criminal investigation service and the public prosecutor’s office of the canton of Schaffhausen, went to the crime scene. In addition, specialists from the Forensic Institute Zurich (FOR) and the Institute of Forensic Medicine Zurich (IRMZ) were called in.
“The suicide capsule Sarco was seized and the deceased person was taken to the IRMZ for autopsy. In addition, several people were put in police custody in the Merishausen area.
“The public prosecutor’s office is also examining the violation of other criminal offences.”
Since 1942, Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide as long as the motives are not selfish. All forms of euthanasia are against the law.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
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