First woman to die in ‘suicide pod’ may have been strangled to death: report

The first woman to end her life using the controversial ‘suicide pod’ in Switzerland was found with strangulation marks on her neck, reports Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant.
The Sarco pod, developed by Dr Philip Nitschke, was billed as a painless way for terminally ill patients to end their life with dignity. The pod enables its occupants to kill themselves by pressing a button, which leads to nitrogen gas filling the chamber. Dr Nitschke claims that the pod can provide a “quick, peaceful and dignified death.”
In September, an unnamed 64-year-old American woman became the first person in the world to use the pod, which is operated by The Last Resort, an assisted dying group.
Dr Florian Willet, president of The Last Resort, was the only person present when the woman used the suicide pod in the Merishausen area, which lies near the Swiss-German border, on September 23. The Swiss police arrested several people shortly after the pod was used.
(Also read: US woman becomes first person to end life using ‘suicide pod,’ several arrested)
Now, a report in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant has raised suspicions about whether the pod was actually used or if it malfunctioned.
The newspaper noted that “an autopsy had discovered ‘strangulation’ marks on the woman’s neck,” which prompted Swiss chief prosecutor of the case, Peter Sticher, to float the possibility of “intentional homicide.”
A forensic doctor told the court that the woman had severe injuries to her neck.
Moreover, six and a half minutes after the woman pressed the button to end her life inside the suicide pod, Willet was heard to tell the pod designer over a call, “She’s still alive, Philip.”
It could have been that he was confused by the sound of an alarm, possibly the heart rate monitor. Half an hour after the woman pressed the button, Willet told Nitschke “She really looks dead.”
However, Sticher has refused to confirm the reports. A Swiss newspaper also noted that skull base osteomyelitis may have caused the marks on the woman’s neck.
At the time of her death, The Last Resort had said that the woman “had been suffering for many years from a number of serious problems associated with severe immune compromise.”