GENEVA: A 64-year-old US lady ended her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with authorities on Tuesday claiming several others had been arrested.
The futuristic-looking Sarco capsule, which explodes when filled with nitrogen and results in hypoxia-related death, was tested in a town close to the German border on Monday.
In Switzerland, the self-operating, movable pod that is the size of a human has sparked a number of ethical and legal concerns. While assisted death has been permitted for many years, active euthanasia is illegal in the nation.
Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Switzerland’s interior minister, informed parliamentarians that the Sarco was “not legal” on the same day that it was used. A number of persons have been placed under arrest and are expected to face criminal charges, according to Schaffhausen canton police in the north.
The Last Resort, an organization that supports assisted suicide, unveiled the Sarco pod in Zurich in July, stating that they anticipated using it for the first time in a few months and that there would be no legal barriers to its usage in Switzerland.
The deceased, who was not identified, was a 64-year-old American woman from the Midwest, according to a statement released by The Last Resort. According to the statement, she “had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems associated with severe immune compromise.”
