A 64-year-old American woman is believed to have become the first person to die in the device which allows the occupant to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber
A Sarco assisted-suicide pod has been used for the first time in Switzerland by a woman who died “under a canopy of trees” – prompting police to arrest staff.
A 64-year-old American woman is believed to be the first person to have died in the device which allows the occupant to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber and die by suffocation in just a few minutes.
The woman had been suffering from “a very serious illness that involves severe pain” and had wished to die for “at least two years”, according to local reports.
The Last Resort, the company behind the Sarco, said the woman “had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems associated with severe immune compromise.”
It said a statement: “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.”
Dr Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort lawyers, confirmed the woman’s death had been “peaceful, fast and dignified”, taking place “under a canopy of trees, at a private forest retreat in the Canton of Schaffhausen close to the Swiss-German border”.
The inventor of the Sarco, Philip Nitschke, claimed his pod “had performed exactly as it had been designed to do,’ saying it had provided a ‘non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person’s choosing”.
Police in northern Switzerland confirmed that several people were detained on Monday after being informed an assisted suicide involving the Sarco pod had taken place near a woodland cabin in Merishausen. Investigators opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide.
Forensics were called to the scene after being informed by a legal firm that an assisted suicide had taken place in the area. The Sarco pod was seized and several people were taken into custody. A post-mortem is set be carried out on the woman by the Institute of Legal Medicine Zurich (IRMZ).
According to reports in Holland, the Dutch newspaper VolkskrantVolkskrant said one of its photographers who was planning to take pictures of the Sarco was detained.
The pod was used on the same day Swiss Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told the National Council that she believes the use of the Sarco in Switzerland to be illegal. She reportedly said: “The Sarco suicide capsule is not legal in two respects. On one hand, it does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation. On the other hand, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the article on purpose in the chemicals law.”
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