The founding president of an assisted dying organization has died by suicide aged 47.
Dr Florian Willet founded The Last Resort, which helped develop the Sarco ‘suicide pod’ that helps people end their lives.
Assisted dying has long be a global topic of debate and is only legal in a handful of countries such as Canada, some parts of Australia, Spain, and Austria.
At the forefront of the assisted dying movement in Switzerland, where it has been legal since 1942.
While assisted suicide is legal in the country, euthanasia is not. They key difference between the two is that a physician can legally provide the means for a patient to end their own life, but they cannot do it themselves.
First user of Sarco pod sparked controversy
The Sarco ‘suicide pod’ was created by Dr Philip Nitschke (Exit International)
In September, a 64-year-old woman became the first person to die by suicide using a Sarco pod after being diagnosed with a severely compromised immune system.
On the same day the woman chose to take her own life, Switzerland’s Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider ruled the device was ‘not legal’.
This led to the arrest of several people involved in her assisted suicide – Dr Willet included – who were under investigation for ‘inducement and aiding and abetting suicide’.
Florian Willet was detained for 70 days
Chief prosecutor Peter Sticher later raised the suspicion of ‘intentional homicide’ after there were allegations that the deceased woman was found with ‘strangulation marks’. However, an autopsy report hasn’t been released to back up such claims, and Sticher never publicly confirmed the presence of the marks.
Dr Willet ended up spending 70 days in custody before he was released in December 2024 after prosecutors changed their minds about having a ‘strong suspicion’ about intentional homicide, as per The Last Resort website.
They did still have a ‘strong suspicion of the crime of inciting and abetting suicide’, however.
Dr Willet was ‘a changed man’
Dr Florian Willet, seen left, has taken his own life (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
While Dr Willet was released, the allegations he was facing and his time behind bars is said to have had a huge impact on his mental wellbeing.
Exit International director Dr Philip Nitschke, the creator of the Sarco pod, recently told Dutch news outlet Volkskrant that Dr Willet had taken his own life last month.
Apparently Dr Willet was ‘a changed man’ after he was released from prison, said Dr Nitschke.
He continued: “Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatised by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation.”
A different friend of Dr Willet’s echoed similar sentiments about the assisted dying activist, The Independent reports. She said: “This friendly, positive man had changed into an anxious, suspicious person who no longer trusted even his best friends.
“He lived in his own world. He became increasingly distant from his friends.”
