Federal Council does not want a special law on the Sarco star capsule for the time being
Published: Thursday, Nov 28th 2024, 14:20
العودة إلى البث المباشر
Following the first use of the Sarco star capsule in Switzerland at the end of September, the Federal Council sees no need for legislative action for the time being. It wants to await the results of the cantonal investigations, it writes.
"An explicit special legal ban on this euthanasia capsule is not considered expedient," reads the statement published on Thursday by the national government in response to a motion by Nina Fehr Düsel (SVP/ZH). The petitioner is calling for the examination of a legal provision that would ban the use of the Sarco suicide capsule in Switzerland.
The Federal Council waves it away. Such a ban would only prevent the use of the Sarco stereocapsule in its current form, it writes. However, other conceivable instruments and procedures would not be covered by the regulation.
The Federal Council also refers to the applicable provisions. According to this, the Sarco suicide capsule is not legally compliant in two respects: firstly, the capsule does not meet the requirements of product safety law and may therefore not be placed on the market. Secondly, the use of nitrogen in the capsule is not compatible with the purpose article of the Chemicals Act.
Ongoing investigations
Finally, the Federal Council notes that cantonal investigations into the use of the death capsule are currently pending. It is of the opinion "that the results of these investigations must be awaited in order to decide whether and where there is a need for legal regulation".
At the end of September, the euthanasia organization "The Last Resort" used the suicide capsule for the first time in Switzerland, at a forest hut in Merishausen in the canton of Schaffhausen. The emergency services immediately deployed recovered the capsule and took the deceased, a 64-year-old American woman who had suffered from an immune deficiency for many years, to Zurich for an autopsy.
Several people were arrested. The public prosecutor's office initiated proceedings for incitement and aiding and abetting suicide. Florian Willet, co-president of "The Last Resort", has since been remanded in custody. The other people arrested have been released.
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