‘Suicide Pod' Activist Takes Own Life Months After Arrest Over Woman's Death In Euthanasia Device
Dr Florian Willet, a prominent right-to-die activist and director of the Swiss suicide organisation Last Resort, has died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, months after being investigated for the death of a woman who became the first person to use the Sarco suicide pod.
Willet, 47, was arrested in September 2024 by Swiss authorities after a 64-year-old American woman with an immune disease died inside the nitrogen-filled capsule in a secluded forest near Merishausen, Switzerland, The Sun reported.
Designed by euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip Nitschke, the Sarco pod had long stirred ethical and legal debates. The woman's death marked its first real-world use — and triggered a criminal investigation.
Although suicide is legal in Switzerland under strict conditions, the use of the pod had never been officially sanctioned. Prosecutors raised suspicions of 'intentional homicide" after alleged strangulation marks were found on the woman's neck. This led to Willet being held in pre-trial detention for 70 days — the only person among several initially detained, including two lawyers and a journalist, to remain in custody.
The allegations deeply affected Willet's mental health, according to Nitschke, founder of Exit International and inventor of the Sarco pod. In a statement following Willet's death, Nitschke recalled how his colleague emerged from custody a changed man. 'Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence," he said. 'In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatised by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation."
Willet, a German national, was reportedly admitted to psychiatric care twice after his release in December 2024. Nitschke said he developed 'an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder," which psychiatrists linked to the intense psychological stress of the criminal probe. In early 2025, Willet also suffered severe injuries from a fall from the third floor of his Zurich residence.
On May 5, Willet reportedly ended his life with the assistance of a specialized organisation in Cologne, Germany. Nitschke confirmed the death and praised Willet as a thoughtful, kind, and passionate advocate for the right to choose when and how to die. 'In the final months of his life, Florian shouldered more than any man should," he said.
Before his death, Willet had maintained that the woman's death in the pod was 'peaceful, fast, and dignified." He notified authorities immediately after it occurred. Supporters of the pod claimed that the marks resembling strangulation could have been caused by the woman's medical condition — skull base osteomyelitis — rather than any foul play.
Willet's death draws uncomfortable parallels to the weight of public and legal scrutiny surrounding assisted dying. It also raises serious questions about how society treats individuals advocating for controversial medical technologies. A committed campaigner since his youth, Willet once said he had thought about the concept of suicide from the age of five and accepted his father's death by suicide at 14.
His final act, much like the work he dedicated his life to, reignites the debate over autonomy, ethics, and the legal challenges surrounding assisted dying in Europe and beyond.
First Published:
June 03, 2025, 14:55 IST
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