☠️ Switzerland To Offer $20 ‘Suicide Pod’ Deaths to Citizens Who Can’t Afford Basic Necessities
Just Push a Button and Off You Go...
Source: Jim Ferguson and BBC
Citizens in Switzerland who are too poor to afford basic necessities are being offered the chance to be euthanized at a discounted price, the government announced on Wednesday.
The portable suicide pods will be used for the first time in Switzerland, allowing people will various illnesses, mental issues, or social problems to end their life for just $20.
Firstpost.com reports: The space-age-looking Sarco capsule, first unveiled in 2019, replaces the oxygen inside it with nitrogen, causing death by hypoxia. It would cost $20 to use.
The Last Resort organisation said it saw no legal obstacle to its use in Switzerland, where the law generally allows assisted suicide if the person commits the lethal act themselves.
“Since we have people indeed queueing up, asking to use the Sarco, it’s very likely that it will take place pretty soon,” The Last Resort’s chief executive Florian Willet told a press conference.
“I cannot imagine a more beautiful way (to die), of breathing air without oxygen until falling into an eternal sleep,” he added.
The person wishing to die must first pass a psychiatric assessment of their mental capacity – a key legal requirement.
The person climbs into the purple capsule, closes the lid, and is asked automated questions such as who they are, where they are and if they know what happens when they press the button.
“‘If you want to die’, the voice says in the processor, ‘Press this button’,”
Daniel Huerlimann, a legal expert and assistant professor at the University of St Gallen, was asked by Sarco to explore whether the use of the suicide pod would break any Swiss laws.
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.
He also believed it would not fall foul of laws governing the use of nitrogen, weapons or product safety.
"This means that the pod is not covered by Swiss law," he said.
But Kerstin Noelle Vkinger, a doctor, lawyer and professor at the University of Zurich, told 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."
And 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 technologised capsule for a self-determined end of life will meet much acceptance or interest in Switzerland."
Dr Death
If the machine gets the go-ahead for use in Switzerland, the pod will not be offered for sale in the conventional way.
Instead, the capsule's creator Dr Philip Nitschke, said he planned to make the blueprints available so anyone could download the design. This will be made available for free.
His aim is to "de-medicalise the dying process", he said in an interview published on the Exit International website, a voluntary assisted dying charity which 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 long campaigned for the right to die, earning him the nickname "Dr Death".
Currently there are two prototypes of the Sarco pod, with a third being printed in the Netherlands.
Dr Nitschke has previously faced criticism for the pod, with some saying that its futuristic design glamourises suicide.
