A medical review body in Switzerland has approved the Sarco suicide pod, which allows a person to die through assisted suicide. According to reports, the pod is a 3D-printed coffin-like capsule.
When the person who is about to die enters the pod and answers a series of questions, a button is pressed to activate the mechanism. As the victim loses consciousness, the capsule releases
nitrogen, which lowers the oxygen level.
The pod, which was prototyped in the Netherlands and produced by Exit International, an Australian-based international NGO, will be operational in the country by 2022.
Assisted suicide is legal under specific conditions in various European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Canada.
In Switzerland, assisted suicide was apparently permitted to 1,300 people last year.
Many foreigners are known to travel to Switzerland in order to use assisted suicide, which is considered a legal method of death. There are also assisted organisations in which people can
join. The assisted-dying or voluntary euthanasia sector in Switzerland requires the intake of liquid sodium pentobarbital due to its rapid onset of coma and perception of a peaceful death.
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Now, the Sarco pods can deliver a peaceful death without the use of controlled substances.
"The benefit for the individual who uses it is that they don't need some special doctor to try to get a needle in, and they don't need to get difficult medications," said
the founder of Exit International Dr Philip Nitschke last year.
The Sarco pod has the tagline "Go with style" and it can be towed to a selected location by the person who desires to die and activated from the inside.
According to reports, the Sacro suicide pod may contain a camera that allows people to communicate with those outside, and works are underway to develop artificial intelligence screening to better assess a person's mental health.