Advocacy groups make major move after woman becomes first to use ‘suicide pod’

The owners of a controversial suicide pod have made a major announcement as authorities investigate the death of the first person to use the device.

The campaign group behind a so-called ‘suicide pod’ have suspended applications to use the device, as authorities investigate the voluntary death of the first woman to die using it.

A 64-year-old American woman died “almost immediately” when she became the first person to use the ‘Sacro’ suicide capsule near a forest hut in Merishausen, northern Switzerland, last month.

The following day, Swiss police announced several people including German scientist and president of Switzerland-based The Last Resort - an assisted dying organisation - Dr Florian Willet, had been arrested.

Dr Willet is currently being held in pre-trial detention, according to the group and Exit International, an affiliate founded in Australia. Both organisations advocate for the right to assisted suicide.

Other people who were initially detained in connection with the woman’s death were released from custody.

The advocacy groups said in a statement on Sunday that 371 people were in the process of applying to use the Sarco in Switzerland as of September 23, but that applications had now been suspended after its first use.

The groups announced on Sunday they have suspended applications to use the device (above, stock image) until authorities in Switzerland complete the criminal investigation. Picture: News Regional Media

The Sarco machine (short for sarcophagus) was designed to allow a person to sit in a reclining seat inside the device and push a button that injects nitrogen gas from a tank underneath into the sealed chamber. The person would then fall asleep and die by suffocation in a few minutes.

The device, which was 3D-printed and cost more than $1 million to develop, was invented by Australian and founder of Exit International, Dr Philip Nitschke, who has been dubbed “Dr Death”.

Speaking of the woman’s death Dr Nitschke told Dutch media: “It looked exactly as we expected it to look. My guess is that she lost consciousness within two minutes and that she died after five minutes.”

“We saw sudden, small contractions and movements of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then.”

Dr Nitschke claimed the woman “almost immediately” pressed the button.

“She didn’t say anything. She really wanted to die,” he added.

The woman was reportedly suffering from a severe immune condition.

Exit International said Mr Willet was the only person present for the woman’s death, which the group described as “peaceful, fast and dignified”.

An American woman, 64, become the first person to use the controversial Sarco suicide pod to end her life in a Swiss forest. Picture: Arnd Wiegmann/AFP

Dr Nitschke, a former physician who lives in Amsterdam, campaigned for euthanasia to be made legal in the Northern Territory but it was overturned by the Australian government.

“It seems we demand humans to live with indignity, pain and anguish whereas we are kinder to our pets when their suffering becomes too much,” he said in 2009.

“It simply is not logical or mature. Trouble is, we have had too many centuries of religious claptrap.”

Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, with laws allowing so-called death with dignity as long as the person ends their life with no “external assistance” and people who assist the person do not do so for any “self-serving motive.”

The futuristic Sarco capsule replaces the oxygen inside it with nitrogen, causing death by suffocation. Picture: Arnd Wiegmann / AFP

On the day of the woman’s death, Swiss Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told parliament that use of the device would not be legal.

But Exit International pushed back on Baume-Schneider’s statement, arguing that the group’s lawyers in Switzerland believe use of the device is legal.

“Only after the Sarco was used was it learned that Ms. Baume-Schneider had addressed the issue,” the advocacy groups said in the statement Sunday.

“The timing was a pure coincidence and not our intention.”

Woman’s four-minute recording

Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant said the American woman made a four-minute oral statement to The Last Resort claiming she was ready to die.

In the recording, she revealed she was “immune compromised” and had been in “severe pain” for “at least two years”.

She claimed her two sons, who are not understood to have been in Switzerland to witness the death, were “behind me 100 per cent”.

Dr Nitschke earlier condemned Swiss police in the aftermath of her death.

“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,” he wrote on X.

“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!!”

The controversial pod was invented by Australian euthanasia activist Philip Nitschke – dubbed “Dr Death”. Picture: Jerad Williams

Fury over suicide pod

The use of the Sarco pod came as Switzerland’s interior minister said it was not compliant with Swiss law.

“The Sarco suicide capsule is not legally compliant in two respects,” Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said during a parliamentary question and answer session last month.

“Firstly, it does not meet the requirements of product safety law and therefore cannot be placed on the market. Secondly, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the purpose article of the Chemicals Act,” she said.

Many pro-life groups have warned the pods, made by a 3D printer, “glamorise suicide”.

James Mildren, Director of engagement pro-life group CARE, said: “Philip Nitschke’s device has been condemned by a broad range of commentators.

“Many people feel that it trivialises, and even glamorises suicide.

“We believe that suicide is a tragedy that good societies seek to prevent in every circumstance.

“There are ethical ways to help human beings that don’t involve the destruction of life.”

Switzerland’s interior minister said the use of the pod was not compliant with Swiss law. Picture: Handout/ The Last Resort/ AFP

‘Dr Death’s’ ominous warning

Dr Nitschke offered a chilling warning during a press conference unveiling the pod earlier this year: “Once the button is pressed, there is no way back.”

German scientist Dr Willet added he would “probably use the Sarco myself instead of living through my last days in a miserable state while seriously ill”.

Dr Nitschke previously shared that the pod could be transported anywhere in the world.

“It can be in an idyllic outdoor setting or on the premises of an assisted-suicide organisation, for example,” he said.

During an interview with MailOnline last year, he explained the logistics of the device.

“The person will climb into the machine, they will be asked three questions and they will answer verbally – ‘Who are you?’, ‘Where are you?’ and ‘Do you know what happens if you press the button?,” he told the publication.

“And if they answer those questions verbally, the software then switches the power on so that the button can then be pressed.

“And if they press the button they will die very quickly.

“When you climb into Sarco the oxygen level is 21 per cent but after you press the button it takes 30 seconds for the oxygen to drop to less than one per cent.”

A 2022 review by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that if the device experienced a malfunction, the technology would fail to put the individual in an unconscious state, leading to a painful death.

– With Fox News and Associated Press

Originally published as Advocacy groups make major move after woman becomes first to use ‘suicide pod’