The “Sarco” suicide chamber is set to be introduced in Switzerland in 2022, in what SPUC has described as a “sinister” and “dystopian” development that should not be ignored.
Designed by Dr. Philip Nitschke, known as “Dr. Death”, the suicide pod was first exhibited in 2018, as reported by SPUC at the time.
Constructed to kill the occupant, the 3D-printed chamber fills with nitrogen, causing hypoxic death because of a lack of oxygen.
Dr. Nitschke argues that his creation, which doubles as a bio-degradable coffin, provides a peaceful and efficient death.
Responding to comments that it is really “glorified gas chamber”, Dr. Nitschke has said that “gas may never be an acceptable method for assisted suicide in Europe due to the negative connotations of the Holocaust”.
During the Second World War, millions of Jews, as well as other unfortunates deemed unworthy of life by the Nazis, were killed in gas chambers, most infamously at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Now that the “Sarco” chamber has passed a legal review in Switzerland, it is set to be introduced sometime next year. Currently, assisted suicide in Switzerland relies on the taking of liquid sodium pentobarbital.
But with the “Sarco” chamber, a person seeking to commit suicide would in theory be able to use it without assistance within their own home.
As Dr. Nitschke explains: “The benefit for the person who uses it is that they don’t have to get any permission, they don’t need some special doctor to try and get a needle in, and they don’t need to get difficult drugs to obtain.”
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “This sinister device is a chamber of horror pointing towards a dystopian future where suicide and euthanasia have been normalised – a future that would see our fellow human ushered towards cold, lonely and untimely deaths and then neatly disposed of.
“By losing (and disposing of) precious people in such a way, we would also lose our humanity. We cannot allow this to happen.
“This horrifying device is a warning that none of us can afford to ignore.”
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Please respond to the consultation on the proposed Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adult (Scotland) Bill.
This dangerous practice must not be made legal in any part of the UK.
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Dr. Death launches "glorified gas chamber" suicide machine