June 6, 2025
Euthanasia Advocate Dies in Germany
Dr. Florian Willet had been under investigation in Switzerland after being present when an American woman died using a so-called suicide pod.
Florian Willet, a euthanasia advocate who was detained by Swiss authorities last year after being present when an American woman ended her life using a chamber-like device, has died.
Mr. Willet’s death was reported in an obituary posted on the website of The Last Resort, his assisted dying group, written by Philip Nitschke, the inventor of the device, known as a Sarco capsule.
Mr. Nitschke said in an email that Mr. Willet had died by assisted suicide, but further details about his death remained unclear. The police in Germany, where Mr. Willet died, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mr. Willet, who was 47, according to the obituary, was the only person with the American woman when she died using the Sarco device in a remote forest in Switzerland in September.
He was arrested, along with three others, by the Swiss authorities, who said at the time that the group was under investigation for “aiding and abetting suicide.”
Dr Florian Willet
The incident amplified thorny questions surrounding assisted dying even in Switzerland, where laws around the practice have led thousands of people to seek assisted death from right-to-die organizations based there in recent years.
Mr. Willet was released from pretrial detention in December, after which “he was a changed man,” Mr. Nitschke wrote.
“Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who was deeply traumatized by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation.”
Mr. Nitschke, who said he had been in regular contact with Mr. Willet, said in an email that he had been expecting to see Mr. Willet in May in Zurich, where Mr. Nitschke was planning to attend a conference on assisted dying.
Mr. Willet confirmed he would see him then but said he was first planning to go to Germany for some “rest and relaxation,” Mr. Nitschke said.
Mr. Willet was reported missing not long afterward, and then found to have died in Germany on May 5, Mr. Nitschke said.
In a statement released on Monday, the public prosecutor in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, offered condolences to Mr. Willet’s family and said the case against him would be discontinued.
An investigation into the death of the American woman, who has not been named, remains open.
Central to the questions around the woman’s death is the use of the Sarco capsule. The device, which can be transported to a location of a user’s choosing, is an airtight pod with a window.
Inside is a button that initiates the process of replacing life-giving oxygen with nitrogen, killing the person inside within minutes.
The Swiss authorities said last September that they had warned Mr. Willet and his organization that use of the Sarco capsule was illegal, though advocates of the device say it is compliant with Swiss law.
The Last Resort group facilitated the use of the Sarco device by the woman, who was 64 and was said to have had a longstanding autoimmune condition.
Mr. Willet was the only person present when the woman died, and a law firm notified the Swiss authorities of her death immediately afterward.
Mr. Willet was held by Swiss police for more than two months under suspicion of murder. He was released in December without being charged, and investigators said they had no evidence to substantiate those claims.
In early 2025, not long after his release, Mr. Willet fell three stories from his apartment building in Zurich, according to the obituary. He spent the following weeks in rehabilitation and psychiatric therapy, where he received treatment for trauma related to his detention.
“In the final months of his life, Dr. Florian Willet shouldered more than any man should,” Mr. Nitschke wrote. “He knew that he did nothing illegal or wrong, but his belief in the rule of law in Switzerland was in tatters.”
The Sarco (short for “sarcophagus”) capsule was invented by Mr. Nitschke, an Australian doctor who is a longtime advocate of assisted dying.
Proponents say that the capsule is a drug-free way for older people of sound mind to end their own lives, and that users must be evaluated by medical professionals before they are cleared to use the pod.
Critics argue that the capsule is untested and inhumane, and that its sleek design glamorizes suicide.
On its website, The Last Resort defended the use of the Sarco capsule in the woman’s death in September.
“The Sarco was used in Switzerland because this is one of the few countries in the world where it is not a crime to help someone to die (under certain conditions),” the website said