People wishing to end their lives in Switzerland — one of a handful of countries that give the option — could soon have access to a new method: a 3-D-printed pod that its creator says can painlessly end someone’s life in a matter of minutes.
Real-life participants will start trying the coffinlike “Sarco” during trials set to begin in early 2022, the capsule’s creator, Philip Nitschke, told The Washington Post.
At the push of a button, the pod becomes filled with nitrogen gas, which rapidly lowers oxygen levels, causing its user to fall unconscious within a minute, Nitschke said. A person does not suffocate or experience distress, he said, but rather dies of oxygen deprivation after they’ve fallen asleep. In theory, the capsule can be towed to a place of someone’s choosing, said Nitschke, who described the machine as a “stylish and elegant” way to die.
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Even those who support assisted suicide say they have concerns. In an opinion piece published [recently] in the Independent, Stephen Duckworth, a disability advocate who says he believes in the right to assisted dying, wrote that he is “appalled” by the Sarco.
