Bern: The Switzerland government has given legal approval to a ‘suicide machine’ which will allow users to kill themselves within a minute and in a painless manner. The machine dubbed ‘Sarco’ was invented by Dr Philip Nitschke, dubbed ‘Dr Death’, and is short for ‘sarcophagus’. The machine allows people to kill themselves by inducing hypoxia and hypocapnia (the state of inadequate oxygen supply at the tissue level and reduced carbon dioxide in the blood leading to death).
‘Sarco’ looks like a coffin and the euthanasia device. It allows the user to bring the oxygen level inside the glass capsule down to a critical level at the blink of an eye. Hence the person wanting to go for euthanasia is able to undergo a painless death. This has been said in a report published by the machine’s creators.
In the publication the makers of the machine states that the entire process to die takes less than a minute and permits the person to die ‘relatively peacefully and painlessly’. It is the latest example of advances in euthanasia machines, which are devices specifically engineered to allow an individual to die quickly.
The world has seen many debates over euthanasia and the use of such devices. However, there are countries that have legalised voluntary death keeping in mind terminally ill patients who may be going through a lot of pain.
In Switzerland assisted suicide is legal and approximately 1,300 people were reported to have used the services of euthanasia organisations, such as ‘Dignitas’ and ‘Exit’, last year. However, both of these organisations use ingestible liquid barbiturate drugs to induce a deep coma followed by death.
The new device has expectedly faced heavy criticism, specifically due to its nature wherein nitrogen flows into the capsule, displacing oxygen, leading to death. Some have called it a ‘gas chamber’, while others have lambasted its futuristic design – noting that it ‘glorifies’ suicide. However, as the ‘Sarco’ machine has been legally approved in Switzerland, its makers are planning to produce it from next year.