Suicide Pods Now Legal In Switzerland, Providing Users With a Painless Death

Switzerland is giving the green light to so-called "suicide capsules" -- 3-D printed pods that allow people to choose the place where they want to die an assisted death. Global News reports: The country's medical review board announced the legalization of the Sarco Suicide Pods this week. They can be operated by the user from the inside. Dr. Philip Nitschke, the developer of the pods and founder of Exit International, a pro-euthanasia group, told SwissInfo.ch the machines can be "towed anywhere for the death" and one of the most positive features of the capsules is that they can be transported to an "idyllic outdoor setting." Currently, assisted suicide in Switzerland means swallowing a capsule filled with a cocktail of controlled substances that puts the person into a deep coma before they die. But Sarco pods -- short for sarcophagus -- allow a person to control their death inside the pod by quickly reducing internal oxygen levels. The person intending to end their life is required to answer a set of pre-recorded questions, then press a button that floods the interior with nitrogen. The oxygen level inside is quickly reduced from 21 per cent to one per cent. After death, the pod can be used as a coffin. [...] Nitschke said his method of death is painless, and the person will feel a little bit disoriented and/or euphoric before they lose consciousness. He said there are only two capsule prototypes in existence, but a third machine is being printed now, and he expects this method to become available to the Swiss public next year.

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