Swiss police make arrests over suspected death in ‘suicide capsule’
Swiss police make arrests over suspected death in ‘suicide capsule’
Criminal case opened after Sarco capsule – which releases nitrogen gas at the touch of a button – used in Merishausen
Criminal case opened after Sarco capsule – which releases nitrogen gas at the touch of a button – used in Merishausen
Swiss police say they have opened a criminal investigation and arrested several people after the suspected death of a woman in a so-called suicide capsule.
According to local reports, the capsule, named the Sarco Pod by its inventor, was used for the first time on Monday afternoon in a forest close to the German border in the Swiss town of Merishausen.
The person who died was reportedly a 64-year-old American woman. Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where assisted suicide is legal, under certain conditions.
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Maybe I missed it. Does it say why anyone was arrested?
From the article:
Police in the canton of Schaffhausen, in northern Switzerland, confirmed the arrests, while the public prosecutors’ office confirmed it had opened an investigation into suspected incitement and aiding and abetting of suicide.
The person who died was reportedly a 64-year-old American woman. Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world where assisted suicide is legal, under certain conditions.
But the article does state that the interior minister does question the morality and legality of the device:
Switzerland’s interior minister, Élisabeth Baume-Schneider, questioned the moral and legal status of the Sarco Pod, a device that is designed to allow a person inside to push a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber.
It's hard to say why the arrests happened without more details, but I'd suspect the nationality of the individual may play a role.
I know from working in healthcare in Germany, that you can get euthanasia as a non Swiss national if you go through the appropriate channels. You don't even have to live in Switzerland.
But it is for all a legally controlled, very lengthy and detailed process with several independent doctors and psychiatrists having to sign off on it.
My uneducated guess would be, that there are some rules and regulations they haven't followed exactly. Maybe they thought since the patient has the controll over the button themselves, they wouldn't be bound by all of them.
I'd suspect the nationality of the individual may play a role.
I'm not convinced. Kevorkian was acquitted 3 times and had one mistrial for basically the exact same thing back in the 90s and US opinion has continued to soften on assisted suicide since then. It's legal in 10 states. Kevorkian was eventually convicted of 2nd degree murder but that was after he pushed the button for a patient and represented himself in court. Maybe Swiss officials are giving it undue scrutiny because she was American but I doubt that American officials are pushing for this to get any special attention.
I would agree on the investigation ensuring everything was done diligently and to protocol. I don't think it's some international political issue that the US is waging on it, just that they are an individual traveling to be euthanized it might be seen as murder in the individuals native courts. The United States still having issues letting people go state to state for treatment, let alone internationally, causes me pause in such situations.
I'll be the first to admit I have no real knowledge on the laws that apply here but the United States has been known to inject themselves into other nations matters regularly. This is again just opinion and no way substantiated by anything tangible.
Edit: To add to this, this MSN article seems to give additional information. Specifically, the following quotes:
The American woman who became the first person to take her own life in the new “suicide pod” in Switzerland was given a chilling command by the morbid machine before she took her last breaths.
“If you want to die, press this button,” the machine said, according to the AFP.
So most likely this is due to being the first incident of voluntary euthanasia being legally done in Switzerland, and ensuring the legality of such procedures via precedent for future such cases.
It sounds like they didn't have a qualifying terminal illness to me.