Swiss police say they have detained several people and opened a criminal case a day after the first use of the “Sarco” capsule to end a person’s life. Assisted dying is legal in Switzerland in some circumstances.
Police in the northern Swiss canton of Schaffhausen said on Tuesday that several people had been detained, and a dead body taken for examination, following the apparent first use of a capsule designed to help people end their lives.
The “Sarco” capsule, made in the Netherlands and in development for several years now, is supposed to allow a person reclining inside to press a button, after which most of the oxygen in the sealed chamber is replaced with nitrogen.
According to the group that promotes its use, Exit International, this triggers first mild disorientation and euphoria, then unconsciousness, and in a few minutes death by asphyxiation.
Lmao what?
I don’t think he takes the fact that his machine is killing people seriously enough. He should definitely be there for at least the first few “uses”
Maybe it was just family physically in the room? You could monitor the air composition with a video feed from elsewhere, even just a room over.
EDIT: Ok just read through the article:
“the death took place in the open air under a canopy of trees in a private forest retreat near the German border with the association’s co-president, Dr. Florian Willet, the sole person present.”
So he wasn’t present or nearby, but someone else from the company was.
Also this bit sticks out to me (emphasis mine):
“On displaying cogency and an understanding of the stakes, it becomes possible push the button to activate the process, which cannot then be aborted.”
I wonder if this is a legal sticking point? If someone presses it and immediately has second thoughts, shouldn’t they have the freedom to open it and cancel the process?
Philip Nitschke has been around a long time now, He helped get the first Assisted Suicide/Euthanasia laws on the books in the Northern Territory of Australia, only for the feds to strike it down on a technicality as ‘Territories’ don’t get the same rights as ‘States’.
That was almost 30 years ago.
Edit: Link for more information on Territories vs. States in Australia