The Sarco Suicide Pods are being launched in Switzerland which will remove the medical personnel from assisting people to pass away peacefully. The suicide Pod will assist people to choose their preferred way of death. The suicide Pod can be operated from the inside by the user., A Swiss legal expert that Sarco hired concluded that the equipment did not violate any laws in the nation. However, several solicitors questioned his conclusions. Additionally, Dignitas, a group that supports assisted suicide, stated that it is not going to be easily accepted by the laws.
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland
In Switzerland, it is permissible to provide someone with the means to end their own life through assisted suicide. In this manner, 1,300 people died there in 2020. In the UK, it is forbidden to practice assisted suicide and euthanasia, which is the practice of a doctor ending the life of a willing patient.Right now, assisted suicide in Switzerland implies gulping a capsule filled with a cocktail of controlled substances that puts the individual into a profound coma sometime before they die. On the other hand, the nitrogen-flooded pod, which can be placed anywhere, quickly lowers the oxygen levels. In about ten minutes, the process would cause the individual within to lose consciousness and pass away
The suicide pod also features an emergency button for exiting and is operated from the inside. Sarco requested Daniel Huerlimann, an assistant professor at the University of St Gallen and legal expert, to investigate whether using the suicide pod would violate any Swiss legislation. He told the BBC that his findings suggested the pod “did not constitute a medical device”, so would not be covered by the Swiss Therapeutic Products Act. Additionally, he thought it would not violate any rules about the safety of products, the usage of nitrogen, or firearms. “This means that the pod is not covered by Swiss law,” he stated.
Kerstin Noelle Vkinger, a doctor, lawyer, and professor at the University of Zurich, told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung: “Medical devices are regulated because they are supposed to be safer than other products. Just because a product is not beneficial to health does not mean that it is not also affected by these additional safety requirements.”
Dignitas told the BBC: “For 35 years now, through the two Swiss Exit groups and for 23 years also with Dignitas, Switzerland has the practice of professional accompanied suicide with trained staff, in co-operation with physicians. “In the light of this established, safe, and professionally conducted/supported practice, we would not imagine that a technologized capsule for a self-determined end of life will meet much acceptance or interest in Switzerland.”
The developer says anyone will be able to download the design
Dr. Philip Nitschke, the man behind the capsule, said he intended to release the plans for download so that anybody could make the design. This will be given away without charge. SwissInfo.ch was informed by Dr. Philip Nitschke, that the capsules may be “towed anywhere for the death” and that one of its best qualities is that they can be placed in a “idyllic outdoor setting.” He aims to “de-medicalize the dying process”, he said in an interview published on the Exit International website, a voluntary assisted dying charity that he founded. “We want to remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves.”
He has been known as “Dr. Death” for his extensive advocacy of the right to die. The Sarco pod currently has two prototypes and a third is being printed in the Netherlands. Some have criticized Dr. Nitschke in the past for the pod, claiming that its futuristic style glamourizes suicide.
By: Gursharan Kaur