Dr. Phillip Nitschke is finalizing the development of a new device which uses nitrogen gas to cause death. This so-called "suicide machine" can kill its users in the blink of an eye. As such, it sparked a controversial euthanasia debate in Europe and the world.
"Death shouldn't be something you do hidden away in a back room somewhere," Dr. Nitschke told the Britsh Independent. The device is intended to offer people an option of peacefully ending their life without assistance, in a way that is, according to Dr. Nitschke, "effective and dignified."
"The machine works by filling a capsule with nitrogen, which induces hypoxic death to the occupant of the machine," reports The Independent. Once the hypoxiation process is done, "the biodegradable capsule can then be detached from the machine's base in order to serve as the deceased person's coffin."
However, among a number of opposing arguments, one of them is that the futuristic design of the Sarco may suggest that the machine and the process surrounding it is glamorizing suicide. (Sarco is short for sarcophagus: a stone coffin, typically adorned with a sculpture or inscription and associated with the coffins in ancient civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece.)
"The first fully-functional Sarco device is set to be built later this year in the Netherlands, before being shipped to Switzerland where assisted suicide is legal," reports The Independent. Supposedly, Dr. Nitschke also has some plans to develop a 3D-printable version of his machine.
