The creator of the Sarco ‘suicide pod’ has said he is ready to launch the hugely controversial device in Britain if Parliament votes to legalise assisted suicide this week.
Dr Philip Nitschke has said that he will bring the 3D-printed portable machine that releases nitrogen gas to the UK, if Labour’s assisted dying Bill succeeds.
The Bill, tabled by MP Kim Leadbeater, is due for its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday.
Nitschke, the Austrian founder of the group Exit International, and former physician, told the Telegraph that he is “absolutely” keen to bring the pod 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.”
Similarly, last November, Nitschke told the Oiteachtas Committee on Assisted Dying – which went on to recommend a change in the law – that the device had “a proper and useful place” in the discussion on introducing assisted suicide in Ireland.
He also said that such options “should not” be excluded in any proposed legislation regarding assisted suicide in Ireland.
The pod, which has a transparent pane so that the person dying can look out on the view in their final moments, could be placed in somewhere like the Lake District, Dr Nitschke suggested.
“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,” he said.
He added: “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.”
It comes as an assisted suicide organisation in Switzerland was recently forced to deny allegations of intentional homicide after the first death was recorded using the pod in a Swiss forest.
It was alleged last month that the first person to die using the pod, a female US citizen, was “found with strangulation marks” on her neck.
Authorities in Switzerland are exploring the possibility of “intentional homicide” following the woman’s death, according to Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. This comes after a forensic doctor who attended the scene told a recent court hearing that the woman had “severe injuries” to her neck.
The deceased was helped by a recently formed Swiss organisation, The Last Resort, which advocates to allow assisted suicide and is headed by Dr Florian Willet, a former spokesperson for Dignitas in Germany. Last Report released a statement stating “the allegations of intentional homicide are ridiculous and absurd.”
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.”
With regards to the UK, it remains unclear how MPs will vote this week, amid concerns that the Bill has been rushed, with debate largely compressed.
If the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill for England and Wales becomes law, it would give people, in certain circumstances, the right to choose assisted suicide. The Bill would allow assisted suicide for people who are terminally ill, mentally competent adults with six months or less to live.
It has received backing in the form of co-sponsorship by MPs from across the political spectrum, including former Conservative minister Kit Malthouse, Christine Jardine of the Liberal Democrats, and the Green Party MP Sian Berry.
The controversial Bill specifies that 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 “substance” used is left to ministerial discretion.
The potential social change has been described as “colossal,” and has been likened to the Abortion Act of 1967. Opinion polls have suggested that most people in England are broadly in favour of a change in the law, however MPs remain divided.
MPs have a free vote on Friday.