The chilling eight-word message users will hear inside Sarco suicide pod moments before death
People using the Sarco suicide capsule hear a chilling eight-word message before pressing a button to end their lives.
The capsule is designed so that the person inside can press a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber, causing hypoxia and death shortly thereafter.
After the user presses the button, it takes a total of ten minutes for him or her to die. This means that the user loses consciousness shortly after.
Australian creator Philip Nitschke, dubbed Doctor Death by life-right opponents, explained that a chilling message will be heard in the 3D capsule.
After the person enters the machine, he hears a voice saying: “If you want to die, press this button,” AFP reported.
A look at the Sarco suicide machine, a 3D-printed capsule that gives the user ultimate control over the timing of his/her death
The pod works by replacing air, which is 21 percent oxygen and 79 percent nitrogen, with 100 percent nitrogen, causing the occupant to quickly become unconscious and stop breathing in a process that takes less than ten minutes.
A display shows the login screen and the release button for pure nitrogen in the Sarco suicide machine
There are several ways the process can be activated within the pod, including eye movement and voice control for those with reduced mobility.
However, once the pod is activated, there is no way to stop or reverse the process, First Post reports.
It comes shortly after a former RAF engineer and his wife said they had applied to become the first British couple to use the double suicide capsule, which is due to be launched later this year.
Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, made the decision after 80-year-old former nurse Christine was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.
The couple plans to travel to Switzerland to die in each other’s arms in the death capsule, the Sarco, to mark the end of their long and happy marriage.
At an emotional family gathering, the couple expressed their fears of spending their old age in a failing NHS and losing their home and savings to high healthcare costs.
After this summit, their son and daughter reluctantly said they would respect their choice.
Peter, 86, and Christine, who have six grandchildren, are now in the process of registering with The Last Resort, a Swiss organization that offers euthanasia at Sarco, which was founded in July.
The Scots say they will wait until the new twin model of the machine is launched later this year.
Users hear a chilling message saying: “If you want to die, press this button,” according to AFP (Pictured: An 02 detector and the button for releasing pure nitrogen in the Sarco suicide machine)
Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, have decided to sign up for the double suicide capsule that will be launched later this year
The couple made the decision after former nurse Christine, 80, was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia a few weeks ago (Pictured: Peter and Chris Scott about 35 years ago)
In a candid interview at their Suffolk home, they previously revealed their plans in the hope of helping the campaign to make euthanasia legal in the UK.
“We’ve had long, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives, but now we’re old and that doesn’t do good things to you,” Peter said.
‘The idea of having to watch Chris’ mental faculties slowly deteriorate in parallel with my own physical decline is horrifying to me.
‘Of course I would care for her to the point where I couldn’t, but she has cared for enough people with dementia in her career to be determined to maintain control over herself and her life.
‘Thanks to euthanasia she has that chance and I wouldn’t want to live without her anymore.
‘We understand that other people may not share our feelings and we respect their position. What we want is the right to choose. I find it deeply depressing that we cannot do that here in the UK.
‘But consider the alternative. The chances of you getting NHS treatment for the ills of old age quickly seem pretty slim, so you end up trapped in weakness and pain.
‘I don’t want to go to care, lie in bed drooling and be incontinent. That’s not what I call life.’
‘Eventually the government will step in and take your savings and your home to pay for everything.’
Australian-born Philip Nitschke (pictured), who designed the device, has been nicknamed Doctor Death by opponents of the right to life
Philip Nitschke lies in a ‘suicide capsule’ known as ‘The Sarco’ in Rotterdam, Netherlands, July 8, 2024
The Sarco was invented at the request of British stroke victim Tony Nicklinson, who was conscious but unable to move or speak after a stroke.
Peter is currently busy with all the paperwork required for the complete application.
He fears Christine’s application because it is more difficult for people with dementia to get assistance with suicide than for people with other illnesses, such as terminal cancer.
The Sarco was originally invented at the request of British stroke patient Tony Nicklinson. He was conscious after a stroke but unable to move or speak.
He approached Nitschke to create a ‘death capsule’ that could be controlled at a moment’s notice; the only means of communication he had left.
Nicklinson, who begged the courts to be allowed to die legally but was denied, eventually starved himself to death in 2012, before Sarco was established
Recently, the first person to use the device was the one who, according to the pod’s creator, pressed the button “almost instantly.”
The capsule was in a forest area near a hut in Merishausen in northern Switzerland. Thanks to the window of the capsule, the 64-year-old woman was able to see the trees before she died.
“It looked exactly as we expected. I think she lost consciousness within two minutes and she died after five minutes,” said Dr. Philip Nitschke Dutch media.
“We saw sudden, small contractions and movements of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then.”
The user is said to be a mother of two from the American Midwest who was suffering from a “very serious illness” with “severe pain.”
According to Dutch media, the woman had had a death wish for ‘at least two years’.
After police were notified of her death, they arrived at the scene and subsequently arrested several people.
Those arrested reportedly include an executive of The Last Resort, the company behind Sarco, two lawyers and a newspaper photographer who took pictures of the capsule.
According to the public prosecutor’s office in the canton of Schaffhausen, the manufacturers of Sarco had been warned not to use the device in their region.
“We warned them in writing,” said prosecutor Peter Sticher. “We said that if they came to Schaffhausen and used Sarco, they would face criminal charges.”
According to the Dutch daily newspaper the People’s Newspaperwho followed the case closely, the woman who died in the machine verbally stated to The Last Resort that it was her own wish to end her life.
- 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.