The creators of the Sarco suicide capsule have been accused of ‘manipulating and exploiting’ an American woman who wanted to end her life into spending all her money.
Jennifer McLaughlin, 55, had travelled to Switzerland in July this year to become the first person to use the capsule that allows its occupant to press a button and die.
Before his scheduled death, McLaughlin disappeared and is said to have sought help in dying from another assisted dying organization.
In a letter written by McLaughlin, seen by a Swiss newspaper New Zurich newspaperMcLaughlin claimed she had been exploited by staff at the organization.
McLaughlin said she had already withdrawn her entire savings, totaling $40,000, to travel to Switzerland for the procedure when disputes began to arise.
Jennifer McLaughlin, 55, had travelled to Switzerland in July this year to become the first person to use the capsule that allows its occupant to press a button and die.
The ‘Sarco’ capsule, which according to its creators allows its occupant to press a button and trigger his own death.
These conflicts are said to have occurred between McLaughlin and his caretakers at The Last Resort, a subgroup of the euthanasia group Exit International.
According to your letter, they arose from misunderstandings and different expectations of those involved.
He complained that his staged death, which would have been the first in the Sarco capsule, had become a “media circus”.
McLaughlin also said the group had pressured her to spend her money, telling her she “wouldn’t need it after she died.”
She said: “I felt manipulated and exploited. Had I known that the deeply ruthless people who held my fate in their hands were motivated primarily by their own media presence and marketing, I would never have put myself through this ordeal.”
The capsule’s inventor, controversial assisted dying advocate Philip Nitschke, said at the time McLaughlin retracted his statement that his death was “permanently postponed.”
In a statement released by The Last Resort after his passing, they said he had turned to the Swiss Pegasos Association for help with assisted dying.
They also said McLaughlin was told he was taken off the Sarco because of mental health issues.
He complained that his arranged death, which would have been the first in the Sarco capsule, had become a ‘media circus’
McLaughlin also said the group had pressured her to spend her money, telling her she “wouldn’t need it after I die.”
Nitschke said in a statement: ‘In the first week of July it became clear that he was not pursuing the chosen path of assisted suicide.
“Ms McLaughlin should never have been helped to commit suicide. She was a person in urgent need of psychological care. That is why she was denied access to Sarco.”
An email McLaughlin sent to his lawyer and close friends said he would undergo a “procedure” to take his own life.
The former insurance company worker from Columbus, Georgia, began experiencing “significant health problems” in 2017, and her attorney said she “never really recovered.”
In 2017, he spent three months in the hospital, he said. Several years later, he lost his beloved mother, who had been by his side throughout his ill health.
The Sarco, short for sarcophagus, is designed to allow the euthanasia patient inside to press a button and die “within seconds,” according to Exit International.
The capsule is filled with nitrogen to deprive the occupant of oxygen, rendering him unconscious before dying.
The Sarco capsule was used for the first time on Monday on another American woman, aged 64, who is believed to be the first person to die in the device.
Swiss police said several people were arrested on Monday and an investigation has been opened into inciting and aiding and abetting suicide.
The public prosecutor’s office in the canton of Schaffhausen has been informed by a law firm that an assisted suicide using a Sarco capsule took place on Monday near a cabin in the Merishausen forest, the police said.
The woman who died in the capsule was reportedly suffering from “a very serious illness involving intense pain” and had wanted to die for “at least two years.”
Australian euthanasia campaigner Philip Nitschke (pictured), also known as “Dr Death”, is a former physician and director of voluntary euthanasia campaigner Exit International.
The Last Resort said in a statement: ‘On Monday 23rd September at approximately 16.01 CEST, a 64-year-old woman from the Midwest of the US died while using the Sarco device.’
He said the organisation’s co-president, Florian Willet, was the only person present at the time of the death, contrary to police reports.
Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported that police detained one of its photographers who wanted to take pictures of the Sarco being used.
According to Schaffhausen police, the photographer was being held at a police station, but he refused to give any further explanation.
According to Last Resort, Willet said the woman’s death had been “peaceful, quick and dignified” and had taken place “under a canopy of trees, in a private forest lodge in the canton of Schaffhausen, near the Swiss-German border.”
A view of the Sarco suicide machine, a 3D-printed capsule that gives the user maximum control over the moment of their death.
The organisation said the woman “had been suffering for many years from a series of serious problems associated with severe immunocompromise”.
Nitschke said his device “had worked exactly as it was designed to do,” adding that it had provided “a peaceful, unmedicated death at a time chosen by the person.”
The Last Resort, which had anticipated that an investigation would be necessary after the device was released, said it had informed police that it had been used.
Police have seized Sarco’s capsule. The Zurich Institute for Forensic Medicine (IRMZ) will now perform an autopsy on the deceased.
If you or someone you know needs help, the U.S. National Suicide and Crisis Helpline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
