‘Doctor. Death’ loses Switzerland’s permission to test his ‘Sarco’ capsule for suicide

However, despite the promises of ‘Dr. Death’ no one guarantees that subjects who have voluntarily used Sarco will actually die quickly and painlessly, since apparently it has never been tested before. The system is based on nitrogen asphyxiation and the only case of execution using this technique in the United States ended with the prisoner writhing on the stretcher and suffering from convulsions, great tremors and gasping for oxygen.

Despite this, reliable Swiss sources such as newspapers New Zürcher Zeitungconfirm that the preparations for the premiere are practically complete and the launch is scheduled for July. The moribund man chosen for the first experiment of Sarco is, in fact, already in Switzerland, one of the countries most affected by euthanasia and which Nitschke chose precisely because of its permissibility. In fact, Nitschke has created a special guide entitled «Moving to Switzerland: how to make the final decision».

Sarco is the culmination of decades of effort by a controversial activist obsessed with obtaining such a device. In the 1990s, he helped four terminally ill patients commit suicide when Australia was the first country in the world to allow this for a short time, using a “savings machine” of his own invention. The gadget allowed you to press a button on a laptop and thus personally activate the intravenous administration of a lethal drug.

The device is now in British Science Museum. Nitschke later founded the organization Exit International and published the book “Peaceful pill”, The book, in which he gives practical advice on suicide by poison or gases, was banned in his native country Austria. After that, the Austrian Medical Association barred him from continuing to practice and, in protest, he publicly burned his medical license in 2015, before emigrating to the Netherlands that same year.

Inspired by the idea of ​​a suicide facility, he developed there a plastic bag that could be placed over the head and sealed before nitrogen was introduced through a hose. Sarco, which is due to open in Switzerland this summer, is essentially a combination of this suicide method “Redemption Machine” Which he developed in collaboration with Dutch designer Alexander Bannink. He presented it to the public at the Venice Design Fair in 2019, and first announced his intention to bring it to market in 2021, but the social concern, even in permissive Switzerland, was such that his Swiss partners backed down.

foundation of Exit to SwitzerlandD This now allows him to work without them and fulfill his “dream”, although Swiss experts doubt the legitimacy of his intentions. Kerstin Noelle VokingerProfessor of Law and Medicine at the University of Zurich, for example, believes that the Medical Devices Act also covers devices that serve to alter a “physiological or pathological condition”, so the machine must obtain the necessary licenses before its operation, which must also be monitored by the Swissmedic Therapeutic Products Authority.

The law provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone who “markets” a medical device without permission. On the other hand, Swiss law establishes that those who help someone commit suicide are punishable by imprisonment “Selfish reasons” He could also face five years in prison and this could be the case if Nitschke takes commercial charges. To avoid personal consequences, Nitschke has recruited Swiss citizens who will do the job.

In addition, there are doubts about its effectiveness and the problems it causes to users. Hang the murderer Kenneth Eugene SmithThe first case of suffocation with nitrogen in the United States on January 25 raised serious doubts in this regard. According to eyewitnesses, “Smith remained conscious for several minutes as he writhed and convulsed on the stretcher, gasping for air, pulling at his restraints and shivering violently in prolonged agony.”

Nitschke, on behalf of Smith’s attorneys, traveled to Alabama in December to review the execution environment himself, and was able to see that the process carries the risk of a slow and painful death.