Sarco Suicide Pods

Warning: This article discusses suicide ideation and action.

Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, the deliberate action taken to end a life often with the purpose of relieving pain, has consistently been a controversial topic, with only a few countries across the globe legalizing them.

Debates surrounding the topic very often involve the original Hippocratic Oath that requires physicians to swear upon healing gods that they will uphold a number of professional ethical standards, one of them being to save lives and not to end them, to “do no harm.”

Aside from the Hippocratic Oath, arguments against the action also include moral and religious arguments, the availability of palliative care, and the possibility of patient recovery in the future. Many parties are for the action, however, with their defense being freedom of choice as well as the humaneness of allowing one to choose to end their suffering, giving them autonomy over their bodies and the chance to die with dignity.

The “for” party includes Philip Nitschke, otherwise known as Dr. Death, who not only advocates for the choice of death but takes it a step further by running a 25-year campaign to demedicalize death and make assisted suicide as unassisted as possible through technology, supporting the idea with its Sarco, short for Sarcophagus, Pod.

Suicide Machine

The Sarco Pod, also referred to as the Suicide Pod, is a coffin-like machine created by non-profit organization for voluntary assisted dying Exit International, its creation led by Nitschke. The pod has a detachable 3D-printed capsule placed on a stand filled with liquid nitrogen.

The process of death inside the Sarco Pod involves the release of nitrogen to decrease oxygen levels from 21% to 1% rapidly, causing one to become unconscious in less than a minute without any suffocation or struggle beforehand. The inert gas asphyxiation then leads to death in 5 to 10 minutes, making it what Nitschke perceives as a peaceful death without any need for controlled substances, unlike the typical assisted suicide process involving ingesting liquid sodium pentobarbital.

The euthanasia and assisted suicide as we know them require the presence of medical professionals, the former having the physician perform the action and the latter having the physician provide resources for the patient to perform the act on their own. Believing in providing full autonomy for one to end their life, Nitschshke created the Sarco pod with a button for patients to press on their own inside it.

Prior to pressing the button, the pod will ask three questions: Who are you? Where are you? And do you know what will happen when you press that button? This ensures the patient’s complete awareness and certainty of what they are about to do to themselves. Once answered, the button can be pressed and the capsule will quickly release the widely available gas. An emergency button is also placed to exit the capsule if one changes their mind.

Nitschke states that two prototypes of the pod have been developed, one having been displayed in exhibits in Germany and Poland, while the second didn’t pan out. Exit International plans to create a third functioning device to launch and make usable in Switzerland.

Legal Processes

Seemingly, no legal law in Switzerland can stop the launch from happening. After consulting a Swiss legal expert, Exit International learned that the machine does not break any laws in the country as it does not constitute as a medical device nor a form of medication. The organization’s plan to launch in Switzerland is also supported by the fact that euthanasia and assisted suicide under certain circumstances are deemed legal in the country, with about 1,300 people dying said way back in 2020.

However, sources recently found out that the Swiss medical board have not approved the pod’s launch and Exit International have not applied for authorization or license because it did not believe it needed to. In Switzerland, euthanasia and assisted suicide candidates need to demonstrate mental capacity, requiring assessment by a psychiatrist as it is still often believed that those wanting to end their own lives have undiagnosed mental illness, that wishing for death is not rational. Meanwhile, Nitschke wants the medical establishment to step aside from the Sarco Pod’s process entirely.

Medical History

Nitschke’s insistence of an unassisted suicide does not come from a haphazard place. Before pursuing his Sarco Pod, Nitschke was involved in the Australian Medical Board when the Northern Territory of Australia legalized euthanasia but then overturned the law in only a span of nine months, between July ‘96 and March ‘97 . During that time, Nitschke conducted four assisted suicides, supporting his patients’ wishes but being uncomfortable with the role he had to play. 

Nitschke did not want to sit there and bear the burden of giving the injection, and thus came up with a machine for patients to perform the act themselves in the form of a laptop hooked up to a syringe. With the Sarco Pod, patients are given the choice to willingly and independently press a button that leads to their death. 

To continue on with Nitschke’s purpose while still following Switzerland’s guidelines, Exit International is creating an AI algorithm that enables patients inside the Pod to conduct a psychiatrict self-assesment test, only given “permission” to activate the Pod using a four-digit code when they pass it. Nitschke’s trust in technology and AI, however, is opposed by several sources.

Moral Implications

While AI is more commonly found in the medical field now, becoming increasingly important in helping professionals make accurate and quick medical decisions, many question its ability to be reliable when it involves itself in the moral implications of suicide.

Considering the piles of human knowledge that AI has learned from being filled by bias from the past, parties have come up with questions such as who gets a say in how the algorithm should work, and how do we trust that the algorithm will remain impartial and objective once it is built?

Aside from the delicateness of suicide in relation to AI, criticism for the pod includes its futuristic design seemingly being a glorified gas chamber that glamorizes suicide, with concerns that this glamorization may end up inspiring others outside of qualified groups to commit suicide.

It is currently unclear whether Exit International will some day launch its first usable Suicide Pod, earning its first user, considering the debates surrounding it. If Nitschke succeeds, it is said that the Pod will not be for sale but blueprints of its design will be made available to download with restricted access.

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