×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Saturday
24
Oct 2026
weather symbol
Athens 23°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by
> World

Switzerland: 64-year-old American woman the first to use the suicide chamber

"I believe she lost consciousness two minutes after the procedure began and eventually died after five minutes," the chamber's creator said

Newsroom September 25 08:14

Δείτε περισσότερα άρθρα μας στα αποτελέσματα αναζήτησης

Add Protothema.gr on Google

A 64-year-old US woman is reportedly the first person to use the suicide chamber in Switzerland.

According to the capsule’s creator, Philip Nietzsche who has been nicknamed “Dr Death”, the woman entered the chamber and “almost immediately pressed the button” to end her life.

..an idyllic peaceful death in a Swiss forest where The Last Resort @tlrswiss used the Sarco device to help a US woman have the death she wanted..Lees dit artikel op de Volkskrant https://t.co/6DbKfmzYnC

– Philip Nitschke (@philipnitschke) September 24, 2024

He had previously described that anyone who enters the chamber and presses the button releases nitrogen gas which causes hypoxia and eventually death. It takes a total of ten minutes to complete the gruesome process with the final phrase heard being “If you want to die, press this button.”

The chamber was set in a wooded area in northern Switzerland so the American woman could see the trees and the sky in her final moments.

“Everything happened as we expected. I believe she lost consciousness two minutes after the procedure started and finally died after five minutes,” Nietzsche told Dutch media. Describing what happened, he added that “we saw small contractions and muscle movements in her arms but she was probably already unconscious.”

The US woman, who was reportedly a mother of two, appears to have suffered from a very serious illness with severe pain and “had wanted to die for at least two years.”

Officers who rushed to the area when they were informed of the use of the suicide chamber found the woman’s lifeless body and arrested, among others, the manager of the Last Resort company that operates Sarco, two lawyers, and a newspaper photographer.

The prosecutor in the canton of Schaffhausen said the creators of Sarco had been warned in writing not to use the chamber.

>Related articles

Up to 50 Police Scotland officers suspended over allegations of violence against women and girls

British tragedy as three sisters take their own lives 16 years after their mother’s death

Financial Times: Greece is “wooing” hedge funds – the incentive and Chris Rokos’ tax residency move

According to Dutch newspaper de Volksrant, the woman had given Last Resort the green light on video to go ahead with the procedure, saying she wanted to end her life.

According to the same source in the 4-minute video, the woman reportedly said she had wanted to die for two years after being diagnosed with a serious illness. In the same video, the woman reportedly said her two sons were “100% with me” on the assisted suicide.

“An idyllic peaceful death in a Swiss forest where Last Resort used the Sarco device to help a US woman have the death she wanted,” Nietzsche wrote in his X post.

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#chamber#suicide#switzerland
> More World

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

Advanced Iranian plots to assassinate US officials as Washington cuts embassy staff across Middle East

October 24, 2026

Breakthrough in Sinai monastery dispute as Archbishop Symeon agrees to sign deal with Egypt

October 24, 2026

Meghan Markle’s father at centre of child sex abuse allegations as disturbing photograph emerges

October 24, 2026

Athens enters winter with water reserves up 47%, but October decline raises fresh concerns

October 24, 2026

Rolex, Patek Philippe and a €1m secret vault: The luxury haul at the heart of the Pizza Fan scandal

October 24, 2026

Greece to ban overcrowded migrant sleeping quarters: €10 for a chair, €20 for a mattress in exploitative rental racket

October 24, 2026

Cuba mocks US call for CIA informants: ‘They’re selling it like a tube of toothpaste’

October 24, 2026

Typhoon Chambi batters Asia: One dead and hundreds injured in Taiwan as China and Japan brace for impact

October 24, 2026
All News

> Greece

In reverence, the emotional deposition in Jerusalem, see photos & video

The Holy Temple of the Resurrection opened after many days due to the war between Israel and Iran

April 10, 2026

In the final stretch for the accreditation of joint master’s degrees: Aiming for their launch in the coming academic year

April 10, 2026

Schedule for Epitaph Procession today (10/4)

April 10, 2026

Perfect weather for Easter excursions, according to Tsatrafyllia’s forecast

April 10, 2026

Easter in Greece: The customs that continue in Greek tradition – From Nafpaktos to Corfu

April 10, 2026
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα