Swiss police arrest four after first use of suicide pod

Police in the northern region of Schaffhausen on Tuesday detained the individuals after a 64-year-old American woman ended her life Monday using a capsule controversially developed for suicide. The death reportedly is the first use of the Sarco-brand pod, which was released this summer. Florian Willet, the co-president of a Swiss pro-suicide organization, was with the woman at the time, according to a statement from the organization, The Last Resort Association. The statement did not name the deceased woman but claimed that she had been suffering for years from what the organization called a severe immune compromise. Police detained Willet, along with a Dutch journalist and two Swiss people, according to a spokesperson for the group.

What is the pod? Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, developed the device. Former Australian physician Philip Nitschke founded the pro-euthanasia organization in 1997. The Last Resort, an affiliate of Exit International, in July held a press conference in Switzerland to launch the pod. Once a user presses a button to start the device’s software, the machine kills the person inside by replacing oxygen with nitrogen gas.

Is this legal? While Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide for decades, authorities in July said the Sarco is not permitted in the country. Swiss minister for health Elisabeth Baume-Schneider on Monday said the capsule does not meet product safety requirements and that its use of nitrogen is not compliant with the law. The public prosecutors of several regions this summer said they would initiate criminal proceedings if the capsule was used in their area. Schaffhausen prosecutor Peter Sticher told local media that the operators had been warned they would be arrested if they used the machine.

Dig deeper: Read Adam M. Carrington’s opinion piece about the God-given limits of consent when it comes to assisted suicide.