Several individuals were detained, and a criminal investigation has been launched in northern Switzerland after a person died by assisted suicide on Monday using the Sarco Capsule, according to police in Schaffhausen.
Schaffhausen police reported that “multiple people” were taken into custody on suspicion of “incitement and aiding and abetting suicide.”
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The assisted suicide was carried out using a “Sarco” capsule, a device designed to allow a person to sit inside a sealed chamber and press a button, which releases nitrogen gas, reducing oxygen levels. This causes the person to fall asleep and die from suffocation, according to the Associated Press.
Philip Nitschke, the Australian doctor who developed the device and founder of the right-to-die organization Exit International, told Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant that the individual who used the capsule was a 64-year-old American woman. She traveled to Switzerland specifically for this purpose, and the procedure took place at 4:01 p.m. Monday near a cabin in a forested area of Merishausen.
This marked the first time the “Sarco” capsule had ever been used, according to the AP.
Before the procedure, a psychiatrist evaluated the woman and confirmed she was mentally competent to proceed, de Volkskrant reported.
Nitschke described the event as a significant milestone in the movement for the legalization of assisted suicide, noting the challenges of obtaining “humane” drugs for ending life.
Police were alerted to the assisted suicide by a law firm, and investigators later arrived at the scene. They retrieved the capsule and sent the woman’s body for autopsy.
Florian Willet, director of the Swiss assisted suicide organization The Last Resort, was reportedly the only person present when the woman died. According to Nitschke, the woman initiated the process by pressing the button herself.
Under Swiss law, assisted suicide is legal if the person acts voluntarily without “external assistance” and if those aiding the process do not have any self-serving motives, as noted by The Guardian.
Nitschke told the AP that legal counsel had advised him that using the “Sarco” capsule in Switzerland complies with the country’s laws.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 for free, confidential support available 24/7.
