The inventor of the Sarco-pod has called for the euthanasia device to be introduced in the UK and has contacted politicians campaigning for the legalisation of euthanasia, it has emerged.
Dr Philip Nitschke, the Australian euthanasia advocate behind the capsule, is said to have been in contact with MP Liam McArthur, who wants to legalise euthanasia in Scotland.
Mr McArthur has introduced a bill that would give competent people aged 16 and over with a terminal illness the right to end their lives, pending independent assessments by two doctors.
Dr Nitschke wrote to the Liberal Democrat MSP urging him to introduce the device if the legislation were to pass, The Telegraph defeated.
The Scottish Lib Dems said in a statement that McArthur “does not support Dr Nitschke’s proposals”, adding that he had not responded to him.
This follows arrests made on Monday at the launch of the Sarco in a forest in Switzerland. A 64-year-old American woman is believed to have been the first person to die in the capsule.
Philip Nitschke is seen in a ‘suicide capsule’ known as ‘The Sarco’ in Rotterdam, Netherlands, July 8, 2024
Sarco inventor Philip Nitschke, often called Dr. Death, pictured at a press conference in Zurich on July 17
MSP Liam McArthur has proposed legislation that would give mentally competent people aged 16 or over with a terminal illness the right to end their lives
The Sarco is designed to have the person inside press a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber. The person is then supposed to fall asleep and die of suffocation within a few minutes.
According to The Last Resort, the company behind the operation, around 120 applicants hope to use the machine to end their lives. About a quarter of those on the waiting list are British.
Among those hoping to travel to use the device are a former RAF engineer and his wife, who told the Mail they had applied to become the first couple to use a double suicide capsule.
Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, made the decision after former nurse Christine, 80, was recently diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.
According to The Last Resort, the two-person pod, like the solo pod, is being built using a 3D printer and could be ready for use as early as January, if the pod is successfully deployed for the first time.
Dr Nitschke claimed Monday’s launch went ‘as expected’, telling Dutch media: ‘I suspect she lost consciousness within two minutes and died after five minutes.’
The woman, believed to be a mother of two from the American Midwest, reportedly suffered from “a very serious illness accompanied by severe pain” and had been longing for death for “at least two years.”
After being notified of her death, the police entered the forest, where they found the woman’s lifeless body in the capsule and arrested several people.
Among those arrested is said to be Dr. Florian Willet, a director of The Last Resort. He is still being held by police.
Last Resort member Fiona Stewart poses next to Sarco’s suicide machine in July
In July, Willet said Switzerland was “by far the best place” to use the Sarco because of its “wonderful liberal system”.
Euthanasia is illegal in the UK, but there is growing support for a change in the law.
The Prime Minister has said he supports a change in the law and wants to give MPs a free vote on legalising euthanasia.
The Scottish Lib Dems said Mr McArthur’s bill had received “broad public and growing parliamentary and health support”.
In a statement, they added that Mr McArthur ‘does not support Dr Nitschke’s proposals and has not had any correspondence with him.
“Many dying people feel abandoned by current legislation, forced to take matters into their own hands, alone and behind closed doors. The ‘Sarco’ does not solve this problem, but perpetuates it,” it said.
Swiss law generally allows assisted suicide if the person commits the lethal act themselves.
The ‘Sarco’ pod, whose creators say the occupant can press a button and cause his own death
According to a government website, assisted suicide is allowed provided the person commits suicide without “external help” and that those helping the person die do not do so for “any selfish motive.”
The device was used on the same day that Swiss Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider told the National Council that she considers the use of the Sarco illegal in Switzerland.
“The Sarco suicide capsule is not legal for two reasons,” Baume-Schneider is reported to have said.
“On the one hand, it does not meet the requirements of the Product Safety Act and therefore should not be put into circulation,” she said.
‘The corresponding use of nitrogen, on the other hand, is not compatible with the article on intentional use in the Substances Act.’
Some Swiss lawmakers find the law unclear and are trying to close so-called legal loopholes.
Fiona Stewart, who is married to Nitschke and is a board member and advisor at The Last Resort, said they want Sarco to become an established and accessible option for euthanasia.
Earlier this month, she said in an interview with MailOnline: ‘We hope we can make it available on a regular basis to suitable people.’
She said the Sarco launch would take place soon and an investigation was expected.
Peter and Christine Scott told the Mail earlier this month that they made the decision to end their lives at the same time
A look at the Sarco suicide machine, a 3D-printed capsule that gives the user ultimate control over the timing of his/her death
“Let’s hope that the investigation, the investigation, once it has been used, goes well and that the public prosecutor of the canton concerned realizes that Sarco is just one of many choices that foreigners can make in Switzerland,” she said.
According to the public prosecutor’s office in Schaffhausen, the canton where the device was used on Monday, the makers of Sarco had been warned not to use the device in the region, but this warning was ignored.
“We warned them in writing,” prosecutor Peter Sticher told Swiss media. “We said that if they came to Schaffhausen and used Sarco, they would face criminal consequences.”
The cantonal public prosecutor’s office reported Tuesday that it has “opened criminal investigations against several people for incitement to and complicity in suicide… and that several people have been taken into custody.”
Sarco’s planned first launch was called off in July after the first person who had traveled to Switzerland to use the device went missing.
55-year-old American Jennifer McLaughlin was later murdered after seeking assisted suicide from another euthanasia organization.
A look at the 02 detector and the pure nitrogen release button in the Sarco suicide machine
The Last Resort and its partners Exit International, run by Nitschke, promote Sarco as a free device that gives people autonomy over their death.
Tested in a Rotterdam workshop, the 3D-printable capsule cost more than €650,000 ($725,000) to research and develop in the Netherlands over 12 years. Future Sarcos could cost around €15,000.
In order to use the Sarco, the person who wants to die must first undergo a psychiatric assessment.
The person climbs into the purple capsule, closes the lid and is asked automated questions such as who they are, where they are and whether they know what will happen if they press the button.
In July, Nitschke explained that once the button is pressed, the amount of oxygen in the air drops from 21 percent to 0.05 percent in less than 30 seconds.
The Sarco monitors the oxygen level in the capsule, the person’s heart rate and the oxygen saturation of the blood.
Nitschke’s Exit International organisation, which owns the Sarco, is a non-profit organisation funded by donations. The only cost to the user is 18 Swiss francs (£16) for the nitrogen.
UK: For help and support you can call the Samaritans free from a UK phone line, completely anonymously, on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org.
US: If you or someone you know needs help, in the US you can call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.