Suicide Pod Creator Calls Allegations That First User Had Strangulation Marks 'Absurd'

Dr. Philip Nitschke, pictured at a press conference in July, called allegations that the first user of his suicide capsule was strangled "absurd." (Credit: ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)

A right-to-die activist called allegations that a U.S. woman who died in a suicide capsule he designed had strangulation marks on her neck "absurd," according to reports.

Australian-born Dr. Philip Nitschke, the founder of Exit International, did not personally attend when the woman died Sept. 23 in the Sarco capsule in northern Switzerland but watched it on livestream, the Associated Press reported.