First Use of 'Suicide Capsule' in Switzerland Prompts Several Arrests, Launch of Criminal Case

Police in northern Switzerland have detained several people and opened a criminal case in connection with the suspected death of a woman who died by the unauthorized use of a "suicide capsule."

Exit International, an assisted suicide group based in the Netherlands, says it is behind the "Sarco" capsule.

The 3D-printed device is presumably designed to allow a person sitting in a reclining seat inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die of suffocation.

According to Swiss Catholic News, the $1 million machine does not meet the country's product safety requirements. Public prosecutors' offices in several Swiss territories said they would initiate criminal proceedings if the capsule were used.

"It does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation," said Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. "On the other hand, the corresponding use of nitrogen is not compatible with the article on purpose in the chemicals law."

"It must not be placed on the market," she added. 

An "assisted suicide" involving the Sarco took place Monday near a forest in Merishausen, Swiss police said in a statement. 

Prosecutors have opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide. A conviction could trigger a sentence of up to five years in prison. 

Police in northern Switzerland confirmed that "several people" were taken into custody and Volkskrant, a Dutch Newspaper, reported Tuesday that police detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the Sarco in use. 

It said Schaffhausen police had indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but declined to explain further.

In an email, the Dutch Foreign Ministry told the Associated Press that it was in contact with the newspaper and Swiss officials. "As always, we cannot interfere in the legal process of another country. At the same time, the Netherlands stands firmly for press freedom," it said.

Exit International shared in a statement that the person who died was a 64-year-old woman from the U.S. Midwest, who had suffered from "severe immune compromise." The group provided no further details.

Florian Willet, the co-president of The Last Resort, a Swiss affiliate of Exit International, was the only person present and described the woman's death as "peaceful, fast and dignified."

Blick, a Swiss news outlet, reports that Willet and two lawyers were arrested alongside the photographer.  

Meanwhile, Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian-born doctor and inventor of the suicide capsule, previously told the AP his organization received advice from lawyers in Switzerland that the use of the Sarco would be legal in the country.

Nitschke had reportedly monitored the woman's death via a video link in Germany and charted her vitals. 

He said he thought she had lost consciousness "within two minutes" and had died after five minutes, The Guardian reports. 

In the Exit International statement on Tuesday, Nitschke said he was "pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed..."

Swiss law allows assisted suicide so long as the person takes his or her life with no "external assistance" and those who help the person die do not do so for "any self-serving motive," according to a government website.

It is also the only country in the world where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives and has several organizations that are dedicated to helping people kill themselves. 

However, Switzerland does not allow euthanasia, which involves healthcare practitioners killing patients with a lethal injection at their request. Some lawmakers in Switzerland have argued that the law is unclear and have sought to close legal loopholes.

Jean-Paul Van De Walle and Sophia Kuby of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International have called the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide a "slippery slope."

"Without exception, the experience of legalized euthanasia shows that a slippery slope is unavoidable," they wrote. "No matter how apparently strict the law is designed to be, it is bound to fail to protect the vulnerable members of society as well as medical practitioners and society at large." 

"The mere existence of such a law is an invitation to see assisted suicide and euthanasia treated as a normal part of healthcare," they shared. "Rather than requiring the legalization of these troubling practices, international law (should) robustly protect the right to life – particularly for the most vulnerable."

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