November 13, 2022
Outrage as scientist wants ‘do-it-yourself death pods’
Outrage as scientist wants ‘do-it-yourself death pods’ to be installed in UK city reports The Mirror
Australian former doctor Philip Nitschke launched the 3D printed Sarco pods in Switzerland in 2021 and the technology is now available to be used in the country’s legal assisted suicide clinics
Australian former doctor Philip Nitschke has created the ‘do-it-yourself’ death pods (Image: Getty Images)
A scientist is campaigning for Scotland to take a hi-tech approach to assisted suicide which involves using 3D printed ‘do-it-yourself death pods’.
The capsules were invented by ‘Dr Death’ Philip Nitschke, and they enable users to be locked in an airtight chamber.
The chamber is then filled with nitrogen gas, making them unconscious in one minute and dead after ten minutes, reports the Scottish Daily Express.
Mr Nitschke has written to Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur who is behind an assisted suicide Bill at Holyrood urging him to back the pods.
He said: “They lead to a peaceful, even euphoric death.”
However, the proposal which was revealed in the Mail on Sunday has shocked campaigners opposed to the proposed legislation.
Philip Nitschke’s suicide capsule machine has been approved for use in Switzerland (Image: Exit International)
Dr Gordon Macdonald, Chief Executive of Care Not Killing said: “Ordinary people will be shocked and appalled at Philip Nitschke’s attempt to lobby for the use of his personal gas chamber should Scotland legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia.”
The pods are known as ‘sarco’ pods and can only be run from the inside.
Users can press a button, blink or gesture to release nitrogen gas, which prompts a state of hypoxia, and soon after, death.
There is also an emergency button and an escape hatch.
Nitschke, an Australian former doctor who burned his medical registration certificate in 2015, is the founder of pro-euthanasia group Exit International.
He launched the 3D printed Sarco pods in Switzerland in 2021 and the technology is now available to be used in the country’s legal assisted suicide clinics.
He intends for anyone to be allowed to download the design, and print one of the pods themselves.
Outrage as scientist wants ‘do-it-yourself death pods’
He said: “It really is about democratising the dying process.
“We consider it a right for all rational adults to be able to divest themselves of their life, it is not just some privilege decided by others that can be granted to the very sick.”
Yet the Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas said it did not believe that Nitschke’s ‘do-it-yourself’ approach would take off.
The clinic told Euronews website : “In the light of this established, safe and professionally supported practice, we would not imagine that a technologised capsule for a self-determined end of life will meet much acceptance and/or interest in Switzerland”.
Meanwhile, Dr Macdonald said the “shocking” suggestion was “not the most worrying part of the debate” and warned that evidence showed that assisted suicide “quickly can spin out of control” when introduced in other countries such as Canada.
He said: “You can now have your life ended if you are suffering from mental health conditions such as treatable clinical depression, PTSD, disability, diabetes and a combination of other ailments.”