Newspaper Media
January 10, 2025
Willet spent 10 weeks in custody … “Hard to understand” say Lawyers
A Sarco man spent ten weeks in custody on suspicion of strangulation. “Hard to understand”, say lawyers The Schaffhausen public prosecutor’s office is investigating the first death in the death capsule. Research shows that they are taking an unusually tough approach – and are sticking to a dubious theory. Brief overview: • On 23. September […]
January 8, 2025
Why do we find it so difficult to talk about voluntary death in the Netherlands?
Opinion by Melvin Keijzer Even in a progressive city like Amsterdam, talking about death is a taboo, argues Melvin Keijzer – and about voluntary dying altogether. He argues for an open debate on self-determination. ‘Only that can reveal where the limits of autonomy should lie.’ Recently, a woman (64) in Switzerland ended her life in […]
December 29, 2024
Never before has there been so much public focus on self-determination
Suicide capsule ‘Sarco’, Middel X – ‘Never before has there been so much public focus on self-determination around death as now’ Jos van Wijk never minced words: one’s own dying, the 70-year-old believes, is a private matter. No one else needs to interfere with that. Van Wijk made his conviction his work; until 2023, he […]
December 21, 2024
Thing of 2024 – No one held her hand tight
The capsule is built from glossy panels and Plexiglas. You lie in it, tilted back like the pilot of a glider. It looks like a bobsled. Or the aerodynamic sidecar of a motorbike. In the Haarlem workshop where Philip Nitschke (77), an Australian doctor, worked for years on the prototype of the Sarco, there is […]
December 20, 2024
Everyone has the right to die, believes the inventor of the Sarco
Everyone has the right to die, believes the inventor of the suicide capsule. ‘There is nothing wrong with what I am doing’ Philip Nitschke worked on his suicide capsule, the Sarco, for ten years. Its first use led to a criminal investigation. Nevertheless, he continues. ‘You don’t have to be a doctor to understand death.’ […]
December 19, 2024
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave to include suicide capsule in collection
The Sarco, the suicide capsule first used in September, will enter the collection of Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden reports Susan Wichgers Usually, the national Dutch museum of the history of science and medicine, the Boerhaave, collects objects that have already made their mark, says collections manager Christel Schollaardt. The early respirator the iron lung, for […]
