Switzerland is one of the few countries where medically-assisted suicide is allowed. It turns out that the process is supposed to be… safe, as it may sound.
The first known use of the device resulted in several arrests and government officials claiming that it violated government safety regulations.The 3D-printed Sarco Pod releases nitrogen gas at the touch of a button. It was created by The Last Resort group, which consists of «a small international collective of human rights advocates (lawyers, scientists, doctors)». The Sarco capsule is designed to put its occupant to sleep in seconds using nitrogen gas. The gas rapidly reduces the oxygen level in the container until the person dies. The whole process takes minutes.
The container is equipped with wheels and is designed to be mobile so that users can transport it to locations of their choice. The experience (if you can call it that) provided by the device is considered to be quite calm and easy. The creator of the device is Australian doctor Philip Nitschke, compared it with the sensation that a person aboard an airplane with a depressurized cabin might experience:
«We know from the survivors [of the plane] that it doesn’t feel like suffocation. You just keep breathing. After half a minute, people start to feel disoriented. They don’t really realize what is happening to them. This is often accompanied by a feeling of mild euphoria. And then they just fall asleep».
The Sarco Pod received legal approval for public use in Switzerland back in 2021, but has since sparked controversy. It was first used on Monday when an American woman took her own life in a rural area near the German border. The Last Resort announced the death in a short post on its website. Nitschke reported on social media that the suicide was «an idyllic, peaceful death in a Swiss forest».
However, the first use of the device seems to have been a complete disaster for all involved. As of Monday, several people had been arrested in connection with the woman’s death. The local prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation on suspicion of incitement and aiding and abetting suicide. It is not yet clear who has been detained or what exactly went wrong.
Swiss Minister of Health Elisabeth Baume-Schneider said the country’s parliament that the device does not meet state safety requirements and, as a result, cannot be commercially used. What the government means and how a device can be safe for the most life-threatening purpose — is also not reported.
Source: Gizmodo