The pod’s inventor Philip Nitschke told BBC News that Dr Willet died by assisted suicide in Germany.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, Mr Nitschke said Dr Willet had suffered psychological trauma following his arrest and detention in connection with the Switzerland death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
“In the final months of his life, Dr Florian Willet shouldered more than any man should,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Last Resort – an assisted dying organisation founded by Dr Willet to facilitate the use of the pod – said the arrest had left him “broken”.<\/p>\n
The activist was held in pre-trial detention for 70 days while police investigated whether he had intentionally killed the woman – an allegation he was not charged with.<\/p>\n
Prior to his death on 5 May, Dr Willet fell from a third-floor window, the group said, leaving him requiring surgery and needing to be “cared for by a full psychiatric team”.<\/p>\n
While assisted dying is legally protected in some circumstances in Switzerland, it is strictly regulated, and the pod has encountered opposition.<\/p>\n
Advocates say the device – manufactured by Sarco – provides an assisted dying option which is not reliant on drugs or doctors and expands potential access. <\/p>\n
Critics fear the device’s modern design glamorises suicide, and that the fact that it can be operated without medical oversight is concerning.<\/p>\n
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK and in most other European countries, but thousands have travelled to Switzerland over the years to end their own lives.<\/p>\n
BBC News has contacted the Swiss prosecutor’s office for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A pro-euthanasia activist who was arrested following the death of a woman using the world’s first so-called suicide pod has died. Dr Florian Willet, 47, was reportedly the only other person present when a 64-year-old American woman took her own life using the device in a forest in Switzerland last September. The pod’s inventor Philip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":271263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11364,21254,1552,53989,9627,14279],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-271262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-activist","tag-arrested","tag-dies","tag-euthanasia","tag-pod","tag-suicide"],"yoast_head":"\n
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