Featured Image Credit: Exit International/Sarco
There's been a lot of talk about the controversial Sarco pod.
Designed by Dr. Philip Nitschke - or better known as Doctor Death, the 'suicide capsule' offers a quick and painless way for people to end their lives at the press of a button.
Recently, it was revealed that a US woman was due to be the first person to die in the suicide capsule.
The woman travelled to Switzerland for this exact reason.
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However, Dr. Nitschke said the 55-year-old's planned death was 'permanently postponed'.
Despite the cancellation, the woman emailed her lawyer and closest friends to tell them that she was going to have a 'procedure' to take her life.
Tragically, she was then reported missing to the police and later found dead 'by other means.'
The doctor has previously stated that strict criteria must be met to use the Sarco pod, including being of sound mind and fully aware of the decision. But did not specify the reason to pull out of the woman's procedure.
The former insurance company worker from Columbus, Georgia, had been dealing with 'major health issues' since 2017. She had spent three months in hospital but struggled with her health ever since, and had also lost her beloved mother who was by her side through her struggles.
Her lawyer, who had been a friend and legal counsel to the woman for 15 years, said she 'never really recovered'.
The attorney expressed a tribute to her friend after hearing the 'painful' news.
'She was a wonderfully quirky, articulate and intelligent person, someone who you would have a hard time forgetting,' he said.
'She was one of those people in whose loss you feel the world is a little darker. Saddens all of us who knew her.'
She is reported to have died on Friday after receiving care from a Swiss assisted dying organisation, one that is unaffiliated with Nitschke's founded company, Exit International.
It's unknown whether the woman made the decision to take her own life but had travelled to Switzerland earlier this summer with the plan to become the Sarco pod's first user.
