Hundreds Of People Left In Limbo After Suicide Pod Use Suspended During Swiss Probe

Advocates for assisted suicide have suspended use of a controversial suffocation pod pending the resolution of a criminal case against the head of a Swiss nonprofit that promoted it.

Florian Willet, president of The Last Resort, is being held in pretrial detention in the Sept. 23 death of an American woman who used the device, the Associated Press reported Sunday, citing a statement from Willett's group and another nonprofit, Exit International.

In the statement, the organizations said that 371 people were "in the process of applying" to use it in Switzerland and that their applications had all been suspended.

The unidentified, 64-year-old woman from the Midwest reportedly suffered from a severely weakened immune system and was the first person to die in the suicide capsule, known as the "Sarco."

Willet was among several people arrested on suspicion of incitement and accessory to suicide after a law firm informed prosecutors of her death near a forest cabin in Merishausen, about 35 miles north of Zurich, AP reported last month.

Willet was the only other person present at the time, according to the nonprofit Exit International, whose founder, former Australian physician Philip Nitschke, designed the Sarco.

The others arrested have all been released, AP said.

The Sarco reportedly cost over $1 million to develop and was built using 3D printing technology.

It allows users to seal themselves inside and press a button to self-administer nitrogen gas that knocks them unconscious before killing them.

The hatch can be opened from the inside at any time if users change their minds, according to the Exit International website.

Swiss law permits suicide if there's no "external assistance" and anyone else involved doesn't have "any self-serving motive," AP said.

Switzerland also allows foreigners to travel there to die by suicide

Exit International has said its lawyers in Switzerland believe its use is legal but Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told the Parliament she believed otherwise on the same day the American woman died in it.

Baume-Schneider said the Sarco "does not fulfill the demands of the product safety law, and as such, must not be brought into circulation," AP reported at the time.

In their statement Sunday, The Last Resort and Exit International said, "Only after the Sarco was used was it learned that Ms. Baume-Schneider had addressed the issue."

"The timing was a pure coincidence and not our intention," the groups said.

In the U.S., the national suicide and crisis lifeline is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org