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A 64-year-old woman from the US recently became the first person to die in a ‘suicide pod’ named Sarco in Switzerland’s Schaffhausen. The pod, developed for years by an assisted suicide group from the Netherlands, allows individuals to release nitrogen gas into a sealed environment with a push of a button, leading to death by asphyxiation.
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland if the patient dies by their own hand with no external assistance, and the helpers have no selfish purposes. The Sarco device, a 3D-printed capsule costing over $1m to design, aims to provide a peaceful and dignified death for those with severe medical conditions.
Although legal in Switzerland, concerns have been raised about criminal proceedings for operators of the pod. The organisation behind Sarco asserts that the device can be controlled solely by the individual choosing to end their life, offering a non-drug, elective death at their preferred time.
The co-president of the Swiss branch of the assisted suicide group described the woman’s death as peaceful and dignified, highlighting the importance of providing options for end-of-life choices.
