Interest groups behind the controversial 'Sarco' suicide capsule have suspended applications for its use, pending a criminal investigation into its first deployment in Switzerland. The decision comes after a 64-year-old American woman died using the device. At least 371 applications submitted up to September 23 will remain on hold until the end of the investigation.
Florian Willet, chairman of The Last Resort, a Swiss-based advocacy group, is currently in pre-trial detention, according to the organization and Exit International, an affiliate incorporated in Australia. Swiss police arrested Willet and several others after the woman's death on September 23 in a forest in Schaffhausen, near the German border. Authorities have since released the other prisoners, although the investigation continues.
Read: Sarco Suicide Pod: How the Controversial Capsule Functions
The Sarco, developed by Exit International, allows individuals to end their lives by asphyxiation by inert gas. The Sarco-pod, short for 'sarcophagus', is a 3D printed, self-acting capsule designed to facilitate assisted suicide due to nitrogen-induced hypoxia. The individual sits inside the capsule, which fills with nitrogen gas, reducing oxygen levels to lethal levels, leading to death by asphyxiation within minutes.
Advocates, including Exit International founder Philip Nitschke, claim the Sarco offers a “peaceful, speedy and dignified” end of life. However, these claims have yet to be independently verified.
On the day of the American woman's death, Swiss Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider addressed lawmakers and declared that the use of the Sarco was “not legal.” The incident sparked debate in Switzerland, where assisted suicide is allowed, subject to a set of rules.
The device, which cost more than $1 million to develop, was first introduced in Switzerland in 2019. The application process requires individuals to undergo a psychiatric assessment and answer a series of questions in the capsule to ensure they are aware of the consequences of their decision.
“It was only after the Sarco was used that it was discovered that Ms. Baume-Schneider had addressed the issue,” the groups said in a statement, according to CNN. “The timing was purely coincidental and not our intention.”
Switzerland's long-standing laws on assisted suicide have positioned the country as a destination for “death tourism,” in which individuals from around the world travel in search of control over their end-of-life choices. The inventor of the Sarco, Philip Nitschke, has been a prominent figure in the euthanasia debate since the 1990s. He claims that the capsule offers a humane and autonomous way to die, without medical intervention.