An assisted dying group said on Wednesday it hoped to use a portable suicide pod for the first time in Switzerland, potentially allowing death without medical supervision, within a matter of months.
The space-age-looking Sarco capsule, first unveiled in 2019, replaces oxygen inside it with nitrogen, leading to death by hypoxia. It will cost $20 to use.
The Last Resort organisation said it sees no legal obstacle to its use in Switzerland, where the law generally allows assisted suicide if the person carries out the lethal act themselves.
“Since people are actually queuing up to use Serco, it’s very likely that this will happen very soon,” Florian Willette, chief executive of The Last Resort, said at a press conference.
“I can’t imagine a more beautiful way to die than to breathe without oxygen and then fall into eternal sleep,” he said.
‘Press this button’ to die
A person who wishes to die must first undergo a psychological evaluation of his or her mental capacity – a key legal requirement.
The person climbs into the purple capsule, closes the lid, and is asked automated questions, such as who he is, where he is, and whether he knows what happens when he presses the button.
“If you want to die, a voice in the processor says, ‘Press this button,’” said Sarco’s inventor, Philip Nitschke, a leading global figure in right-to-die activism.
He said that once the button is pressed, the amount of oxygen in the air decreases from 21 percent to 0.05 percent in less than 30 seconds.
“After two breaths of low levels of oxygen, they will start to feel confused, uncoordinated and slightly euphoric, followed by loss of consciousness,” Nitschke said.
“They will remain unconscious for about five minutes, after which they will die,” he said.
The Sarco monitors oxygen levels in the capsule, the person’s heart rate, and oxygen saturation in the blood.
“We’ll be able to know pretty quickly when the person has died,” Nitschke said.
As far as someone changing their mind at the last minute, Nitschke said, “Once you press that button, there’s no way to go back.”
First User
No decision has yet been made on the date and location of the first death, or who will be the first user.
Such details will not be made public until after the event.
“We really don’t want someone’s desire for a peaceful Switzerland to turn into a media circus,” said Fiona Stewart, a lawyer who is on The Last Resort’s advisory board.
He said it would be used “in a very secluded location, amid the beauty of nature,” though it must be on private property.
Asked if its first use would happen this year, he said, “I would say yes.”
A minimum age limit has been set at 50, although if someone over 18 is seriously ill, “we wouldn’t want to deny admission to a suffering person based on their age”, Stewart said.
The capsule can be reused.
Nitschke’s Exit International organization, which owns Sarco, is a nonprofit group funded by donations.
The only cost of the nitrogen to the user would be 18 Swiss francs ($20), Stewart said.
Development and debate
The potential use of the capsule has raised a number of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland, reviving the debate on assisted dying.
The Valais cantonal doctor has banned its use, while other cantons have objected.
Stewart stressed, “Our understanding is that there is no legal impediment to using Sarco … no matter what any canton says.”
He said nitrogen, which makes up 78 percent of the air, “is not a medical product … it is not a dangerous weapon.”
“We want to make assisted suicide medically-free, because SARCO doesn’t require the proximity of a doctor,” Stewart said.
Swiss authorities will only be called in if a person dies.
Research and development of the 3D-printable capsule cost more than 650,000 euros ($710,000) over 12 years in the Netherlands.
Stewart said the device has been tested with equipment at a workshop in Rotterdam over the past 12 months. It has not been tested on humans or animals.
The current Sarco can only accommodate people up to five feet and eight inches (1.73 metres) tall. The development team is trying to create a double Sarco so that couples can end their lives together.
In the future, Sarcos could cost around 15,000 euros. The Last Resort said Sarcos will never be allowed to be used in capital punishment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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