Police in northern Switzerland have announced that they have arrested several people and opened a criminal investigation following the suspicious death of a man in a new 3D-printed “suicide capsule”.
This capsule, which has never been used before, is designed to allow a person, sitting in a comfortable chair, to press a button to inject nitrogen into a sealed chamber. The person then dies from suffocation within minutesour publication previously reported.
According to the regional police, a law firm informed the cantonal prosecutor's office of Schaffhausen that an “assisted suicide” using a “Sarco” (the name of the euthanasia chamber) took place near a forest hut in Mörishhausen on Monday. Police said “several people” had been detained and prosecutors had opened an investigation on suspicion of aiding and abetting suicide.
According to Swiss government website, The country's legislation allows suicide with the help of others, provided that the person does it independently, without “external help”, and those who help him do not have “selfish motives”.
Unlike some other countries, including the Netherlands, Euthanasia is not allowed in Switzerland which involves the “killing” of patients by medical workers using lethal injection at their request and under certain circumstances.
Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where foreigners can travel to legally commit suicide. There are a number of organizations in the country that help people achieve their plans.. However, some lawmakers argue that the law is unclear and are trying to “shut down” so-called legal loopholes.
Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported that police arrested a photographer who wanted to photograph the use of Sarko. Schaffhausen police confirmed that the photographer was being held at a police station, but declined to provide details. The newspaper declined to comment further when contacted by the AP.
Exit International, a suicide support group based in the Netherlands, said it was behind the device, which cost more than $1 million (900,000 euros) to develop.
The group said in a statement that a 64-year-old US woman suffering from “severe immune damage” died near the German border using the Sarco device. Co-chairman of The Last Resort, the Swiss branch of Exit International, Florian Willet, was the only person present, and called her death “peaceful, quick and dignified”.
Dr. Philip Nitschke, the Australian-born doctor behind Exit International, previously told the AP that lawyers in Switzerland told his organization that Sarco is legal to use in the country.
In an interview with Euronews in 2021, Nitschke stated that Sarco's capsule was designed to “demedicalize” death, meaning that doctors would not need to be involved in the process. It was also said at the time that a review commissioned by Exit International by Swiss legal scholar Daniel Hürlimann had found that The capsule does not violate any Swiss regulations governing medical products, drugs, dangerous chemicals or weapons.
In a statement from the organization, Nitschke said that he “satisfied that Sarco worked exactly as intended to provide a selective, non-medicated, peaceful death at the moment of the individual's choosing“
Health Minister Elisabeth Bohm-Schneider was asked in the Swiss parliament about the legal requirements for using the Sarco capsule and hinted that its use was illegal. “On the one hand, it does not comply with the requirements of the Product Safety Act and therefore should not be placed on the market“,” she said, adding, “On the other hand, the appropriate use of nitrogen is incompatible with the target article of the Chemical Substances Act.”
“In July, the Swiss Rida Blick reported that Peter Sticher, the state prosecutor of Schaffhausen, sent a letter to Exit International’s lawyers warning that any operator of a suicide pod could face criminal charges if it were used in the area. If convicted, the penalty could be up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors from other parts of Switzerland also confirmed that use of a suicide capsule may result in criminal prosecution.”
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