Photographer Arrested for Taking Pictures of First Person to Die in ‘Suicide Pod’

A newspaper photographer has been arrested for taking pictures of the first person to use the Sarco suicide pod — which allows an individual to take their own life in a few minutes.

The “Sarco” capsule — which is designed by an assisted suicide group in the Netherlands called Exit International — is built for a person inside to press a button that releases nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber.

This device, which has never been used previously, causes the individual to lose consciousness and pass away from oxygen deprivation within a few minutes.

On Monday, a 64-year-old woman — who is believed to be from the U.S. — became the first person to use the Sarco suicide pod.

The Sarco capsule was set up in a woodland close to a forest cabin in Merishausen, northern Switzerland, with the pod’s window allowing the woman to see the tree and sky above her before she died.

According to Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, the woman lost consciousness within two minutes and died after five minutes at around 4.01 p.m.

Arrests Over Photos of Controversial Pod

However, after being notified that the woman would be dying by assisted suicide via the Sarco capsule, Swiss police swooped into the forest in Merishausen on Monday afternoon.

de Volkskrant reports that police arrested a director of Swiss firm The Last Resort, two lawyers, and a newspaper photographer who had been taking pictures of the suicide pod.

They were all reportedly taken into custody and prosecutors had opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide. Officers also recovered the device and body at the scene.

According to the Dutch news publication, police had detained the newspaper photographer who was taking pictures of the use of the suicide capsule. On Tuesday, Schaffhausen police reportedly indicated the photographer was being held at a police station but gave no further explanation.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, an Australian doctor who is behind Exit International, says that his organization had received advice from lawyers in Switzerland that use of the Sarco would be legal in the country, The Guardian reports.

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

However, despite this, there has been some opposition to assisted dying in the country — with some critics fearing that the Sarco pod glamorizes suicide.

Exit International says that the Sarco pod can be solely operated by the person seeking to end their own life, without medical supervision. Critics say that the fact that the device can be operated without medical assistance is another concerning factor.

 
Image credits: Header photo via Exit International.