SUSANNE WENGER The media normally prefer not to report on suicide, as it can trigger copycat behaviour. However, they made an exception at the end of September as the Swiss and international media printed extensive, illustrated coverage of the suicide of a 64-year-old citizen of the United States at a private forest retreat in the canton of Schaffhausen. This unusual media interest was prompted by the way in which the suicide took place, as it went against what has hitherto counted as standard procedure in Switzerland. Arrests have been made and criminal proceedings launched against the people who helped the deceased to commit suicide. There is also consternation in political circles. The woman travelled to Switzerland to die in the new suicide capsule, known as Sarco. It is activated by the person lying in the capsule pressing a button, which releases nitrogen. Death then results from oxygen deprivation. “Quick and peaceful”, claims The Last Resort, the organisation that provided the capsule. It is Switzerland’s latest assisted-suicide organisation and has ties to Philip Nitschke, who invented the capsule. The Australian doctor, who lives in the Netherlands, has long campaigned internationally for the right to die by assisted suicide, which is banned in many countries. The combative 77-year-old claims this is a human right. Bypassing the authorities Nitschke followed the first ever use of his suicide device remotely, via an Switzerland’s new suicide assistants question the status quo A suicide capsule has been used in Switzerland for the first time, despite the authorities considering them illegal. This has caused considerable consternation – given that the country has long maintained a liberal approach to assisted suicide. What does this mean for the future? oxygen- and heartbeat-measuring device and a camera in the capsule. That is what he told Dutch newspaper “De Volkskrant”, which had a photographer on site in Schaffhauserland. The deceased’s personal decisions were respected, but the Sarco capsule providers ignored months of warnings by the cantonal authorities and even the word of a Federal Councillor. Two hours before the deed, the Swiss home affairs minister declared Sarco to be an illegal device. It does not meet the requirements of product safety legislation, nor is it compatible with the objective of the law on chemical products, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told parliament. The Nitschke camp countered that the capsule does meet the legal criteria and that this has been confirmed by legal exThe inventor and activist Philip Nitschke trying out the death capsule: The Australian’s method and approach are controversial. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / December 2024 / No.6 22 Society
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