‘Suicide pod’ creator speaks out, rejects claim that 1st user was strangled

Philip Nitschke said called the allegations "absurd" and said he watched her death via video transmission.

The man behind the so-called “suicide pod” has spoken out, rejecting allegations that the U.S. woman who was the first to die using the device may have actually been strangled.

Dr. Philip Nitschke, a right-to-die advocate with Exit International and trained medical doctor, said Wednesday that while he didn’t attend the woman’s death on Sept. 23 in Switzerland, he did watch it live by video transmission.

The device worked as planned, he said, in the first and only time it has been used.

The “Sarco” pod (short for sarcophagus) has been in the works for years, but up until September had never been used.

The news of the capsule’s use for the first time made headlines around the world in September, when several people were arrested and a criminal case opened up in connection with its use.

The head of a Swiss affiliate of Exit International known as The Last Resort, Florian Willet, was present at the woman’s death and was immediately taken into police custody, where he remains as police investigate the circumstances around the woman’s death.

Others initially taken into custody, including a journalist for the Volkskrant newspaper in the Netherlands, where Nitschke lives, were later released.

In an interview this week with Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Nitschke said he felt compelled to speak out and help Willet’s plight.