Philip Nitschke, the pod’s creator, is a longtime advocate for assisted suicide. The BBC reported Nitschke’s aim was to “de-medicalise the dying process” and “remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves.”

Switzerland-based assisted suicide organization The Last Resort said Sunday that it has suspended applications amid a criminal investigation into the use of a suicide 'capsule.' Swiss authorities

The use of ‘suicide pods’ or ‘suicide capsules’ in Switzerland has been suspended after a criminal investigation was launched over the death of a US woman.

Advocacy groups behind a "suicide capsule" said they have suspended applications to use it until Swiss authorities complete a criminal probe into the death from its first use.

Swiss police arrested several people following the death of an unidentified 64-year-old woman from the U.S. Midwest who on Sept. 23 became the first person to use the device.