A woman from the United States became the first person to end her life in a suicide pod

In July 2024, a suicide pod was presented in Zurich. The first person to use it was an American woman who came to Switzerland specifically for this purpose.

Sarco, short for "sarcophagus", — it's a 3D-printed capsule mounted on a stand that contains a canister of liquid nitrogen. The 10-minute process rapidly depletes oxygen levels in the capsule as patients pass out within one minute and die within nine minutes. It was created by Dr. Philipp Nitschke, known as "Doctor Death", who promises a painless way to commit suicide.

On Monday, September 23, the police learned that a suicide occurred in Merishausen using a Sarco capsule, writes&nbsp ;LADbible. As a result, several people were taken into custody, and the prosecutor's office began an investigation on suspicion of incitement and involvement in suicide.

The capsule was removed, and the deceased was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Zurich for examination.

Among those arrested was the director of the Swiss euthanasia company The Last Resort, two lawyers and a Dutch journalist. The exact location of the death pods has not been revealed, but it is known that they are located near the border with Germany in a wooded area.

Dr. Nitschke commented on the process on X: "…an idyllic peaceful death in a Swiss forest where The Last Resort @tlrswiss used a Sarco device to help a US woman die the way she wanted.

< p>The first capsule was used by an American woman who traveled to Switzerland to end her life.

She pressed a button inside the capsule that filled the chamber with nitrogen gas. Breathing levels became toxic within a minute, she passed out before dying of hypoxia — lack of oxygen to the brain.

Recounting her decision to travel to Switzerland and voluntarily end her life, Dr. Nitschke said she "really wanted to die."

"When she entered at Sarco, she hit the button almost immediately. She didn't say anything. She really wanted to die. I estimate that she passed out within two minutes and died five minutes later. We saw sharp, small muscle twitches in her arms, but by then she was probably already unconscious. It looked exactly as we expected.