The doctor who invented Sarco’s suicide pod says he’s “very keen” to bring it to the UK if assisted dying was to be made legal – adding the picturesque Lake District may be the ideal location to use it.
Dr Philip Nitschke, 77, says the portable device, dubbed the “Tesla of euthanasia”, would give those undergoing assisted dying a “stylish and elegant” alternative to the lethal injection or medicine cocktails used to end their life. It comes as Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying Bill is due for its second reading in the House of Commons next week.
In the event that it were to become law, Dr Nitschke says he is ready to bring the 3D-printed machine – which engulfs users with nitrogen gas at the press of a button – to the UK. He said: “We have a lot of members there, and a lot of UK people following the Sarco project very closely. There would be a lot of scope. I would be very keen to do that.
“It seems to me that it will just provide an additional option for those who don’t want the needle and who don’t want the drink… who do like what I describe as the stylish and elegant means that is provided by this device in some idyllic location.”
Dr Nitschke’s assisted dying machine has a transparent pane offering users a picturesque view to enjoy in their final moments. He suggested the Lake District could be an ideal location to use the pod, and added: “For people who have got that choice of picking the day and the time… it is the most important day of your life, presumably, the day you die.”
“If you want to be overlooking the lakes or the mountains or looking [at] whatever, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be accommodated. Certainly, Sarco can do that,” he added. Richard Ekins KC, professor of law and constitutional government at St John’s College, Oxford, said: “If Kim Leadbeater’s Bill passes, and if the Secretary of State approves liquid nitrogen as an approved substance, then the Sarco death pod would be a lawful means to assist suicide in Britain.”
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He added that if Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who intends to vote against the Bill, rejects the device, a discrimination challenge under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is “likely” for Brits with swallowing difficulties or needle phobias, The Telegraph reports. He added: “I’m not saying a challenge would succeed, but a phobia could be an ‘other status’ for the purposes of Article 14 of the ECHR and thus the question would again be why one is interfering with the Article 8 right to private life in this discriminatory fashion, limiting the effective right to die for some but not others.”
Kim Leadbetter’s upcoming Bill says doctors can “prepare a medical device which will enable that person to self-administer the substance” and “assist that person to ingest or otherwise self-administer the substance”. The Sarco pod has only been used once in Switzerland, where assisted dying is not a criminal offence, as long as it is not based on self-interest.
In september, a 64-year-old American woman with a rare bone infection died in the capsule, sparking several arrests on charges of assisting her to use the Dutch-made device. When the pathologist examined the woman’s body, they reportedly noted “strange marks” on her neck. All those involved have denied any wrongdoing.
Swiss police seized the only two existing Sarco units following the arrests. Dr Nitschke said: “We are printing a new Sarco now to make up for the one that the Swiss have confiscated. I can see no reason why it couldn’t be used in the UK when the law comes in.”
