‘Suicide pod’ creator speaks out, rejects claim that 1st user was strangled – National

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

‘******** pod’ creator speaks out, rejects claim that 1st user was strangled – National

The man behind the so-called “******** pod” has spoken out, rejecting allegations that the U.S. woman who was the first to **** using the device may have actually been strangled.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, a right-to-**** advocate with Exit International and trained medical doctor, said Wednesday that while he didn’t attend the woman’s ****** on Sept. 23 in Switzerland, he did watch it live by video transmission.

The device worked as planned, he said, in the first and only time it has been used.

This photograph shows the Sarco ******** pod, during a media event organised by the “Last Resort”, a Switzerland’s human rights non-profit association focused on assisted ********, in Zurich on July 17, 2024. The 3-D printed coffin-like Sarco ******** machine, can be activated from the inside by the person intending to ****, by filling the capsule with nitrogen, which induces hypoxic ****** to the occupant.

Arnd Wiegmann / AFP via Getty Images

The “Sarco” pod (short for sarcophagus) has been in the works for years, but up until September had never been used.

Story continues below advertisement

The news of the capsule’s use for the first time made headlines around the world in September, when several people were arrested and a ********* case opened up in connection with its use.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

2:09
‘******** pod’ ****** in Switzerland sparks controversy

The head of a Swiss affiliate of

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

known as The Last Resort, Florian Willet, was present at the woman’s ****** and was immediately taken into police custody, where he ******** as police investigate the circumstances around the woman’s ******.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Others initially taken into custody, including a journalist for the Volkskrant newspaper in the Netherlands, where Nitschke lives, were later released.

In an interview this week with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Nitschke said he

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to speak out and help Willet’s plight.

Swiss justice! 58 days after world first Sarco ******, still no autopsy report, no incriminating evidence, no DNA.. and yet Swiss Sarco director Florian Willet ******** in prison!

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

— Exit International (@PeacefulPill)

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

He told the outlet that the woman who ***** suffered with “a very serious illness that involves severe pain” and had wished to **** for “at least two years.”

Story continues below advertisement

Nitschke said the woman chose a woodland location for her ****** and “almost immediately pressed the button” to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

after entering the pod.

On Oct. 26, Volkskrant reported the Swiss prosecutor had indicated in court that

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. The Volkskrant article last month said one of its photographers, two lawyers and Willet were originally detained on suspicion of inciting ******** and providing assistance in doing so.

“It is absurd because we’ve got film that the capsule wasn’t opened,” Nitschke said. “Everything happened exactly as we had predicted. The woman climbed into the Sarco alone, closed the lid without help and pressed the button that released the nitrogen herself. She lost consciousness and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.”

He added that Willet held a mobile phone through which Nitschke watched live video of the woman using the Sarco, and informed the police immediately afterward that she had *****.

Nitschke recalled speaking to Willet through the phone at the time, saying: “I was listening and answering his questions and calming him down because it was a very tense time for him.”

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

0:51
******** pods now legal in Switzerland, providing users with a painless ******

The Sarco pods allow a person to control their ****** inside the capsule by quickly reducing internal oxygen levels. The person intending to end their life is required to answer a set of pre-recorded questions, then press a button that floods the interior with nitrogen. The oxygen level inside is quickly reduced from 21 per cent to one per cent, and the person is supposed to fall asleep and **** by suffocation in a matter of minutes.

Story continues below advertisement

After ******, the pod can be used as a coffin, although in this case the capsule was confiscated by Swiss police.

Fiona Stewart, member of the Advisory Board and COO of The Last Resort, a Swiss human rights non-profit association focused on assisted ********, presents the Sarco ******** capsule in Zurich on July 17, 2024.

Arnd Wiegmann / AFP via Getty Images

Swiss law allows assisted ******** so long as the person takes his or her life with no “external assistance” and those who help the person **** do not do so for “any self-serving motive,” according to a government website.

Currently, assisted ******** in Switzerland means swallowing a capsule filled with a ********* of controlled substances that puts the person into a deep coma before they ****.

— with files from The Associated Press

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.

For immediate mental health support, call 988. For a directory of support services in your area, visit the 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

 at suicideprevention.ca.

Learn more about 

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

More on World
More videos

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#******** #pod #creator #speaks #rejects #claim #1st #user #strangled #National

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up