Switzerland’s Assisted Dying &
Human Rights Organisation
The Last Resort is a Swiss human rights/assisted suicide organisation that was established to facilitate the use of the Sarco.
TLR is the only organisation to offer a free assisted suicide service.
On 23 September 2024, The Last Resort hosted the first use of the Sarco at a forest retreat in the canton of Schaffhausen.
The Sarco was used by a seriously ill woman from the American mid west. The woman lost consciousness within 2 minutes and died 7 minutes later.
The Schaffhausen prosecutor would go on to arrest and detain the TLR President Florian Willet for 70 days. The organisation’s lawyers were also detained. All were eventually released. The investigation continues.
Shortly after his release from prison, Florian was diagnosed by the Zurich Psychiatric Clinic with ‘an acute polymorphic psychotic disorder (F23.0) … which has developed following the stress of the pre-trial detention’.
Florian died by assisted suicide in Germany in May 2025. In January 2026, criminal charges were laid against those involved on the grounds that he lacked mental capacity.
The Last Resort is currently awaiting the conclusion of the criminal investigation into the first use of the Sarco.
This investigation is taking an inordinately long time?
While a new ‘Double Dutch’ Sarco for couples is being printed in the Netherlands, its use in Switzerland is suspended, pending the outcome of the fore-mentioned investigation.
Other use options are currently being examined.
Did you know …
TLR is funded via Memberships, Donations & Bequests.
If you support the ongoing operation of The Last Resort as Switzerland’s only free assisted suicide service, please consider becoming a Member and/or making a Donation.
We thank you for your time in reading this message.
About the Sarco
History
The Sarco Project began in 2012 when Philip Nitschke was asked to design a machine that could help a man with ‘locked-in’ syndrome control his own death.
Operation
The 3D-printed Sarco capsule works by rapidly replacing the air (& oxygen) within the capsule with pure nitrogen. In this low-oxygen, low carbon dioxide environment, the user dies quickly & peacefully.
Terms of Use
The Sarco is available to use for free to approved users*. An ‘approved user’ is a person who satisfies the criteria for an assisted suicide under Swiss law.
News
Prosecutors investigate after suicide of former Sarco boss Willet
Two members of a German euthanasia organisation are alleged to have helped Florian Willet commit suicide, even though he was mentally ill. It is therefore possible that he did not make his decision of his own free will.
Federal Council rejects clearer rules on assisted suicide
The first use of a suicide capsule last year reignited the debate on assisted suicide in Switzerland. Unlike the responsible Council of States committee, however, the Federal Council rejects new framework regulations for assisted suicide.
Was the deceased Sarco assisted suicide volunteer Willet in Schaffhausen wrongly held in custody for so long?
Dying assistant Florian Willet helped a woman to take her own life with a suicide capsule, came under the scrutiny of the Schaffhausen criminal justice system – and then chose suicide himself. Now documents raise new questions about his pre-trial detention.