Suicide advocates claim to have used a Sarco suicide capsule on a US citizen in Switzerland.

The suicide pod's successful operation was celebrated by Exit International, despite the organization appearing to take credit for the deaths.

Suicide advocates claim to have used a Sarco suicide capsule on a US citizen in Switzerland.
Suicide advocates claim to have used a Sarco suicide capsule on a US citizen in Switzerland.

Several individuals have been detained in Switzerland due to their alleged voluntary utilization of a "suicide capsule."

On Tuesday, police officials in Schaffhausen canton, northern Switzerland, announced that several individuals have been detained after a tip suggested that people were assisted in taking their own lives in a cabin in Merishausen.

An investigation is being conducted into the possibility of incitement and accessories to suicide, and it is believed that the premeditated death may have been caused by the use of a Sarco-brand suicide capsule for the first time.

Sarco Suicide Capsule
This photograph shows the Sarco suicide capsule, during a media event organised by the "Last Resort", a Switzerland's human rights non-profit association focused on assisted suicide, in Zurich on July 17, 2024. The 3-D printed coffin-like Sarco suicide machine, can be activated from the inside by the person intending to die, by filling the capsule with nitrogen, which induces hypoxic death to the occupant.  (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Exit International group, based in the Netherlands, created the Sarco pod, a device intended for assisted suicide.

The group declared in a statement that they were responsible for the alleged crime and announced the intentional euthanization of an elderly American woman with a severe immune disease.

"On Monday in Switzerland, a 64-year-old woman died in a specially designed "suicide capsule" called the Sarco, which contains nitrogen gas. This is the first time the Sarco has been used, and Exit International boasted about it in an online press release. The Sarco is an airtight cabin the size of a coffin that offers a "quick, peaceful, and reliable death" without the assistance of a doctor or medication, according to its creators."

"The pro-suicide group stated that it is still unclear how Swiss justice will respond to this, as the country's conditions for assisted suicide include mental competency, self-execution of the final deadly act, and altruistic motives of those who help."

Dr. Philip Nitschke, the founder of Exit International, announced on Tuesday that he was pleased with the performance of the Sarco, which was designed to provide a peaceful and non-drug death at the person's choosing.

Exit International said Nitschke personally "confirmed" the U.S. woman's death.

Philip Nitschke
Australian activist Philip Nitschke addresses a press conference of The Last Resort to present the Sarco suicide capsule in Zurich. The device, called "Sarco" for sarcophagus, is designed to enable people to take their own lives by pressing a button inside the capsule, which is supposed to release nitrogen. (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)

In 1941, Switzerland became the first country globally to legalize assisted dying by accommodating it through legislation.

Under Swiss law, patients are permitted to end their lives without external assistance, but only if they do not have a self-serving motive.

The Sarco capsule is designed to fill itself with Nitrogen gas, causing victims to fall asleep before they are suffocated within 10 minutes of activation.

The 3-D printed object was first revealed at the Venice Design Festival in 2019.

by Timothy Nerozzi

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