Sarco suicide capsule: Arrests after American woman dies in controversial machine in Switzerland

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health issues, help is available. In the U.S., you can call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. Globally, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.

Zurich, Switzerland
Reuters
—

Swiss police have arrested several people after the first use of a controversial, futuristic-looking capsule designed to offer its occupants the opportunity to commit suicide, authorities said on Tuesday.

Police in the northern canton of Schaffhausen, on the border with Germany, said the so-called “Sarco” capsule was dropped off in a forest in the municipality of Merishausen on Monday.

The public prosecutor's office in Schaffhausen has initiated criminal proceedings against several people for “inducing and assisting suicide,” according to a police statement. In addition, several people have been arrested. No further information about them or the deceased was provided.

A spokesman for the group behind the capsule, The Last Resort, said the deceased was a 64-year-old American woman who suffered from a severely weakened immune system.

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Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort, was among the four arrested, the spokesman said, along with a Dutch journalist and two Swiss nationals. Willet was the only other person present when the woman ended her life, the spokesman said.

In a statement from The Last Resort, Willet described the death as “peaceful, quick and dignified.”

The Last Resort spokesman said the woman underwent psychiatric evaluations before ending her life.

A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Schaffhausen did not want to give any details or confirm that four people were arrested.

The Sarco has sleek, aerodynamic lines and causes death when its occupant releases nitrogen gas, reducing the amount of oxygen to lethal levels. The idea was conceived by Philip Nitschke, an Australian doctor known for his work on assisted suicide since the 1990s.

Switzerland is a magnet for supporters of assisted suicide because it is legal under the law. The Last Resort says the legal advice was that this method could be used.

The capsule attracted a great deal of media attention and there was debate among authorities about whether they would allow it.

Swiss Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said on Monday that the capsule did not meet the requirements of the Product Safety Act and that the use of nitrogen was not in accordance with the law.