Switzerland|After the woman’s death, several people have been arrested and are suspected of crimes. The suicide-assisting device has been controversial.
Several people have been arrested in Switzerland after an American woman died in a so-called suicide pod, according to the news agencies Reuters and AFP, among others.
The Sarco device in question was reportedly used for the first time, British broadcasting company BBC tells. According to the BBC, the death took place in a forest cabin in the Schaffhausen area near the German border.
The arrested are suspected of somehow causing the suicide and assisting in its execution.
In Switzerland, assisted suicide is allowed, as long as the motive is not selfish. In practice, this means that the decision must be made by the person themselves and must not involve pressure.
However, the Sarco capsule has been controversial. According to the Swiss Minister of Health, it does not meet the requirements of the Product Safety Act and its use of nitrogen is not legal.
In addition, the design of the capsule has been criticized as idealizing suicide. The fact that it can be used without medical supervision has also attracted criticism.
Inside the capsule, a person presses a button, which releases gaseous nitrogen. With that, the person loses consciousness. Because of the nitrogen, the oxygen level in the capsule drops quickly, and eventually the person dies.
Media information there would be four arrested, but the prosecutors of the case have not confirmed the number.
One of the arrested is another of the managers of The Last Resort, the company that developed the capsule. He was there when the woman died and, according to Reuters, described the death as “peaceful, quick and dignified”.
According to the company, the woman would have passed a psychiatric evaluation before her death. He died in the open air “under a wooden canopy”, the company’s press release said, according to AFP.
The woman who died in the capsule was 64 years old and had suffered from a serious illness, said a spokesperson for The Last Resort.
Sarco device testing started a couple of years ago in a Swiss clinic.
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