A futuristic-looking “suicide pod” was used for the first time in Switzerland last year — with deadly results.

On Sept. 23, 2024, a 64-year-old unidentified American woman, said to be suffering from a severely compromised immune system, climbed into the device — a 3D-printed, coffin-sized capsule called the Sarco (short for sarcophagus) — and pressed a button to release nitrogen gas and remove all oxygen from the chamber, causing her to asphyxiate. 

Soon after the woman’s death was announced to the media by the pod’s inventor, Philip Nitschke, Swiss authorities arrived at the cabin where she died, seized the Sarco device, and arrested several individuals associated with the Swiss “right-to-die” group The Last Resort, which had supervised the woman’s death, amid suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

The controversial case has taken several dramatic turns since then, culminating on May 5 with another suicide: this time, of the activist “guide” who witnessed the woman’s suicide outside a cabin in the mountains and was initially accused of strangling her — an allegation that was later dismissed.

The latest suicide victim, Florian Willet, 47, the co-founder of The Last Resort, had arranged the use of the pod, promoted as a “peaceful” way to die. But when investigators examined the body of the woman, they discovered unexplained marks on her neck, raising the possibility that she may have been strangled, not asphyxiated as intended, according to the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant.

Swiss prosecutors briefly treated the death as a potential homicide and held Willet in pre-trial detention for 70 days.

However, the authorities later dismissed the strangulation allegation after a forensic review and Willet was released in December.

While authorities said there was no suspicion of homicide in the case, they maintained a “strong suspicion of inciting and assisting suicide,” which would be a violation of Swiss law, according the New York Post and other news outlets. The country’s law bans encouraging suicide for “selfish motives,” such as profit or publicity. In addition, the deceased woman’s family has sued The Last Resort, challenging the legal and ethical oversight of her pod death.

Nitschke, the pod’s inventor, later announced that Willet had died via assisted suicide in Germany, according to The New York Times. No other details were released.

“When Florian was released suddenly and unexpectedly from pre-trial detention in early December 2024, he was a changed man,” Nitschke wrote in an obituary posted on The Last Resort’s website.

“Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who was deeply traumatised by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation,” the obituary states.

In early 2025 Willet “fell” from the third floor of his Zurich apartment building,” Nitschke wrote in the obituary, adding that Willet had spent the following three months undergoing surgery and in rehab in Switzerland. Nitschke said Willet’s January 2025 psychiatric discharge report said he was suffering from “an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder … which has developed following the stress of the pre-trial detention and the associated processes.”

Willet’s “spirit was broken,” Nitschke wrote.

Switzerland is one of the few countries in the world that permits assisted suicide, even for nonresidents, under certain conditions. The act of death must be performed by the individuals themselves (no one may euthanize them directly), and any helpers must not have “any self-serving motive” such as monetary gain. This legal framework — established in the 1940s — has made Switzerland a destination for those seeking to end their lives, with organizations like Dignitas and Exit providing supervised suicide services to people from around the globe. 

Swiss authorities are continuing to review whether the Sarco machine violated Swiss laws. Unlike the typical assisted-suicide process — where a doctor prescribes lethal drugs and a medical assessment is required — the pod bypasses any direct medical oversight.

In the meantime, Nitschke said he is developing another machine that can accommodate two people, according to a report by the U.K. news outlet The Mirror.

The Catholic Church strongly condemns all forms of suicide and euthanasia as being contrary to human dignity. In the declaration Dignitas Infinita, published in 2024, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith noted that “laws permitting euthanasia or assisted suicide are sometimes called ‘death with dignity acts.’ With this, there is a widespread notion that euthanasia or assisted suicide is somehow consistent with respect for the dignity of the human person.”

“However,” the document states, “in response to this, it must be strongly reiterated that suffering does not cause the sick to lose their dignity, which is intrinsically and inalienably their own. Instead, suffering can become an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of mutual belonging and gain greater awareness of the precious value of each person to the whole human family.”

In his greetings to French speakers at his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV made reference to France’s consideration of legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide, noting that “even when it seems we are able to do little in life, it is always worthwhile,” according to a report by the Aleteia news outlet. 

The Holy Father said, “There is always the possibility to find meaning, because God loves our life.”