It was announced on Tuesday that, for the first time in Switzerland, the Sarco suicide aid capsule was used on Monday in a forest in Schaffhausen. The same day that Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider explained to parliamentarians that this device does not comply with Swiss law. A woman took her own life, and “several” people were arrested and taken into custody, the Schaffhausen cantonal police reported.
Who ended her life? A 64-year-old American woman from the Midwest, “with a very serious illness that causes severe pain.” A woman with two sons who “completely agree” with her desire to end it all. And who came to Switzerland, alone, for assisted suicide with the Sarco capsule.
This information comes from the Dutch daily newspaper “de Volkskrant”, which was in the front row, with a photographer on site, in Switzerland, to document this world first.
The clandestine operation comes from Exit International, owned by controversial Australian activist Philip Nitschke. And its Swiss “branch”, The Last Resort, run by a couple of lawyers.
Philip Nitschke, 77, has lived in the Netherlands for about ten years. This is where the Sarco capsule was built. And it is easy to understand why this first assisted suicide based on nitrogen asphyxiation could be followed by “de Volkskrant”.
The article from the Dutch media therefore gives many details. We learn that at the last moments of the American, only Florian Willet was present. He is one of the lawyers at the head of The Last Resort, who was certainly taken into custody. Just like the photographer from the daily.
According to this source, Philip Nitschke followed the death live from Germany, thanks to a camera installed in the capsule…
“The dying process went well,” he said. “When she went into the Sarco, she almost immediately pressed the button. She didn’t say anything. She really wanted to die. I estimate she lost consciousness within two minutes and died within five minutes.”
Philip Nitschke said the now deceased had said she had wanted to die for at least two years, that she had all her mental faculties and had paid 18 francs for the nitrogen and the funeral costs.
“Through a window, the woman was able to see nature during her last moments. She could see the sky and the trees surrounding the capsule,” the Dutch newspaper wrote.
In Schaffhausen, the courts have opened criminal proceedings for incitement and complicity in suicide.
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