An American woman who was meant to be the first person to use the controversial new Sarco “suicide pod” in Switzerland backed out while accusing the company behind it of being “heartless” in exploiting her for publicity and trying to get her life savings, according to a report.
The 55-year-old, identified under the alias Jessica Campbell, leveled the accusations against the group behind the capsule — Exit International’s Swiss affiliate, the Last Resort — in a letter written at some point before her assisted suicide with another company in July, Swiss outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.
Her allegations resurfaced after Swiss police on Tuesday arrested four people when news broke that the Sarco capsule had been used for the first time, helping a 64-year-old American woman die.
Months earlier, Campbell — a wheelchair-bound Alabama native — had revealed she was supposed to be the first to use the controversial, futuristic-looking capsule, but claimed she was taken advantage of by the Last Resort and two of its executives, Florian Willet and Fiona Stewart, according to the report.
“If I had known that the deeply heartless people who held my fate in their hands were mainly driven by their own media presence and marketing, I would never have subjected myself to this ordeal,” Campbell wrote, according to the outlet.
Campbell, who suffered from kidney disease and a debilitating nervous system illness called polyneuropathy, said she cashed in her $40,000 life savings to travel to Zermatt in May to end her life with the help of the organization, the report said.
Once she arrived, Campbell claimed, she was inundated by a “media circus” and was allegedly made to conduct “embarrassing” interviews as publicity for the organization ahead of her scheduled suicide date.
Campbell also accused Willet and Stewart of pressuring her to pay for some of their personal expenses, including groceries and restaurant bills, during their media tours.
She alleged that Stewart at one point told her: “You’re going to die soon anyway, so you don’t need your money anymore.”
When she eventually decided to back out of the arrangement to use the Sarco pod, Campbell alleged, the group abandoned her in Zermatt without any money.
“I sacrificed everything, used up all resources and cut off all ties, believing that Sarco would offer me a peaceful end,” Campbell wrote, according to the outlet.
Campbell, who said she never doubted the functionality of the device, claimed she was then forced to seek help with another Swiss-based assisted suicide organization to end her life.
She ended up dying in late July.
Campbell allegedly left the accusatory letter with the other organization, the outlet reported.
The Last Resort dismissed Campbell’s allegations when they first emerged several months ago, saying it was “not plausible” that the organization would exploit those who opted to use its services.
“For us to rub it in the faces of people who are ready to die that they will soon be dead anyway would be a rude and unsavory act that could not be more strange to us,” Willet told the outlet in response to Campbell’s money allegations.
Willet, the co-president of the Last Resort, was among the four people taken into custody on Tuesday over the other American woman’s assisted suicide.
He was the only person present when the woman ended her life, the company said.
A Dutch journalist and two Swiss citizens were also detained but weren’t named publicly, according to local prosecutors.
Prosecutors were apparently tipped off to the woman’s suicide by a law firm. The arrested individuals are under investigation for alleged incitement and accessory to suicide, prosecutors said.
The 3D-printed device called a Sarco, short for “sarcophagus,” causes a person’s death by flooding its chamber with nitrogen gas, causing the user’s oxygen levels to plummet to deadly levels within 10 minutes.
Switzerland has been a magnet for advocates of assisted suicide due to laws that make it legal there, but the capsule has generated widespread controversy among authorities on whether they would allow it.
The Last Resort has said its legal advice was that the Sarco pod could be deployed.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.