FAQs

The Sarco is not and never will be for sale. The plans will be published open source or in The Peaceful Pill eHandbook. The final decision has not yet been made.

The cost of Sarco will depend on what is charged by the 3D print shop. While the price is dropping all the time, it will never be very cheap. This is why, amongst other reasons, the concept will be applied to cheaper options (eg. mail order coffin that can be converted). In 2024, the cost to print and assemble a Sarco is estimated to be around €15,000.

In the early stages of development it was thought that Sarco could double as one's coffin. If the Sarco is printed from suitable biodegradable materials, this is still true. But the high printing cost of Sarco intimates that it may be better to have a Sarco that can be used multiple times over. Better and cheaper for the user. More friendly to the planet.

The Sarco aims to provide a hypoxic (low oxygen), hypocapnic (low carbon dioxide) death. This is similar to when a plane depressurizes. Furthermore, the experience of being in a low oxygen environment can be intoxicating with a feeling of mild euphoria. That said, sometimes with the hypoxic death there will be involuntary muscle contractions (seizures). Eye witnesses to those who have used a plastic bag say that the person is unconscious at this point.

The Sarco can only be operated (the button pushed) by the person who is actually inside the capsule. There is no door lock. The user can use the red lever to open the capsule door at any time.

A Sarco will never lend itself to rash, impulsive action (irrational suicide). It takes at least one month (using multiple 3D printers 24/7) to print a Sarco. A further month must then be allowed for assembly. Testing should never be undertaken in less than at least a six week period. Tragically, people who are desperate to die will always find an easier, faster way (eg. guns, rope, jumping in front of a fast train, jumping off a tall building).

No, Sarco is a real thing. VR software was used at the Amsterdam Funeral Fair in April 2018 to give visitors a sense of what it would feel like to be inside the Sarco capsule.

Sarco was used in Switzerland because of the way the Swiss Criminal Code is written. Extensive legal advice was taken to ensure its use would be legal. In Switzerland, it is not a crime to help someone to die (assisted suicide) as long as your motives are altruistic in motive. The Sarco is intended to provide the user with a different means of a peaceful, dignified death. Other conditions that have to be met are that the person must do the action themselves (press the button) and they must be of sound mind. Any person who uses Sarco in Switzerland will have had their mental capacity assessed by a registered and expert psychiatrist.

Yes a person with depression could use the Sarco, as long as they have been assessed by a medical professional as having mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions.

Yes, it is true that person who uses Sarco climbs into the capsule and will press a button and die within the capsule. To some people this suggests a cold lonely death. But this is not necessarily true. Goodbyes can be said ahead of time. Eye contact can be maintained until the end. Importantly, couples will be able to go together in a Sarco, at the same time and in each other's arms. Besides, some people may not want friends or family by their side when they go. Of course, Sarco is not for everyone, but for these people, it might be perfect.

No, Sarco is not a gas chamber. Gas chambers (eg. during the Holocaust or in American capital punishment) used poisonous gas. In the Holocaust, Zyklon B (Hydrogen Cyanide) was used. In capital punishment in the US, carbon monoxide was used. Sarco is about a low oxygen environment. The air we all breath is ~ 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. If the 20% oxygen is removed and the air is 100% nitrogen, the person will quickly lose consciousness and die.

The Sarco was inspried by UK man Tony Nicklinson who had locked-in syndrome. The lawyers of Tony approached Exit to ask if Philip Nitschke could invent a device that could be activated by the blink of an eye (this was the only movement Tony had). This got Philip thinking. Using his background in experimental physics, Philip set to work to create the Sarco. Sadly, Tony died before the project could be finished for him.