Arrests have been made in Switzerland where the Sarco Pod was reportedly used for the first time on Monday, 23 September 2024. The victim is an unnamed American woman in her sixties.
The death occurred in a remote location in Swiss woodland. A photographer and a lawyer who was present have been arrested. Dr Philip Nitschke, dubbed “Dr Death”, the inventor of the suicide pod, watched the suicide remotely via webcam from Germany.
The invention has not been approved for use in Switzerland since it “does not meet the requirements of product safety” – asphyxiating the occupant with nitrogen gas that denies them oxygen.
A British Dr Death’s suicide pod have also signed up for the suicide pod in Switzerland because they no longer trust the NHS to take care of them in their infirmity.
Dr Nitschke is a noted pro-assisted suicide advocate who burned his medical registration certificate in 2015. He recently wrote to MSP Liam McArthur urging him to introduce the Sarco Pod in Scotland if his assisted suicide bill is approved by the Scottish Parliament.
The former physician has also boasted about watching live-streamed suicides, also taking credit for the rise in suicides around the world by teaching the “practical steps for a DIY death” via online seminars.
UK Must Reject “appalling” Suicide Ethic
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “Dr Nitschke’s grim invention is part of an insidious ethic at large in the West that turns to death as a solution to the challenges of life. Rather than treating the patient, medicine is increasingly killing them for the sake of convenience – and this is called ‘compassion’.
“Far from being about care, assisted suicide encourages and even revels in death as a utilitarian measure that saves health services money. Many patients turn to suicide in desperation because they have been cancer patient waited weeks for treatment but was granted assisted suicide in two days, which is a scandal.
“The UK is currently threatened by assisted suicide. Proposed bills are under consideration at Westminster and Holyrood, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised a free vote on such legislation – a madness when his own health secretary warns that patients will be “coerced” into assisted suicide because of “coerced” into assisted suicide.
“Government has a duty to protect its citizens from all threats, not least the pressure to choose death, which is no choice at all. This appalling story underscores the urgent need for politicians to reject assisted suicide.”
