Australian euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke has designed a new suicide machine to allow people to choose how and when they die, without any assistance from others.
The pod-like machine – the latest technology developed for assisted dying – was unveiled at a “funeral fair” in Amsterdam this week by Nitschke, the founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International.
The small pod, with sufficient space inside for one person to lie down, is propped up on a stand with a canister of nitrogen connected. At the click of a button, the nitrogen is released into the pod, sending the person inside to sleep – permanently. Once the canister is detached, pod can be released from its stand to act as a biodegradable coffin.
Nitschke, known widely as Dr Death for his long career in euthanasia research and advocacy, says he hopes his creation, dubbed the Sarco, short for sarcophagus, will guarantee “a peaceful, even euphoric death”
“The elegant design was intended to suggest a sense of occasion: of travel to a ‘new destination’, and to dispel the ‘yuk’ factor,” is how Exit International’s site describes the Sarco.
The pod doesn’t require any specialised skills to use it or any involvement from anyone else, and there’s no need to obtain drugs or medical assistance to use it. The site adds: “Those with a significant disability (eg. frailty or increasing paralysis from a disease such as MND/ ALS) would also not be disadvantaged. Activation by eye movement or voice control is anticipated”, indicating that that component may not yet have been fully developed.
Nitschke has long been working on various euthanasia machines, with one he called the Deliverance Machine successfully killing four Australians in the 1990s, and his book, the Peaceful Pill Handbook that offers instructions on how to commit suicide, is well known.
But he believes he’s achieved his best work yet with the Sarco. Speaking to Agence France-Presse, he said: “I believe [choosing when to die is] a fundamental human right. It’s not just some medical privilege for the very sick. If you’ve got the precious gift of life, you should be able to give that gift away at the time of your choosing”.
Nitschke has also installed a panic button inside the Sarco, however, the Mirror reports, so oxygen can immediately be released in case the person suddenly changes their mind.
The first fully-functional Sarco device is set to be built this year in the Netherlands, the Independent reports, and Exit International will also reportedly make plans for the Sarco free online once completed, so anyone with access to a large 3D printer will be able to reproduce the machine.