It may sound—and look—a lot like a disturbing horrific novel. It’s very real, however, and it’s the latest in what has become the sad fallout of a culture becoming increasingly accepting and affirming of suicide.
This device takes assisted suicide a step further, removing the physician aspect of it. Now you can just hop in a little machine and end your life.
The machine, known as the sarco capsule, was developed by Dr. Philip Nitschke for the Netherlands, a nation filled with horror stories in physician assisted suicide. Michael Cook now reports it will be available in Australia, but it has also been promoted in Canada, at the Exit NuTech Conference, late last month.
As Cook detailed:
The machine will allow anyone who has the access key to end their life by simply pressing a button. Developed in the Netherlands by Nitschke and an engineer, the machine can be 3D printed and assembled in any location. Access to the Sarco capsule will be by an on-line mental questionnaire which will provide a four-digit access code.
When the person lies in the capsule, he can activate it and liquid nitrogen will rapidly drop the oxygen level, leading to death a few minutes.
In addition to its feature to cause death in minutes, the pod can be detached to use as a coffin, with the base being re-usable.
Even worse than physician assisted suicide, the Sarco capsule will be free and available on the Internet:
Nitschke says that the world is now one step closer to the goal where any rational person can electively end their life in a peaceful and reliable way at the time of their choosing. “Sarco does not use any restricted drugs, or require any special expertise such as the insertion of an intravenous needle. Anyone who can pass the entry test, can enter the machine and legally end their life”.
There are extreme implications for such a product. As noted, issues with legalized suicide already exist, even when involving the presence of a physician. Live Action News has thoroughly followed incidents in the Netherlands for years, where this device was first developed. For instance, a doctor there early this year was cleared for ending the life of a woman against her will.
Thus, the idea of a “rational person” and “pass[ing] the entry test,” raise grave concerns. The woman previously mentioned allegedly wanted to go through with it, right up until the end when she struggled to fight for her life and had to be held down. At that point, those giving her ‘care’ decided she was “no longer capable of giving her approval.”
Those who would turn to ending their life in such a way must surely be suffering, and can hardly be described as “rational.” The answer to helping them, which is what the goal should be, is not death.
Advocates of legalized suicide will speak of “compassion,” “choices,” and “dignity,” but those are all misnomers and really just putting a friendly spin on the taking of a human life – known in popular culture as murder.
It is not even about those who are suffering going through so much to be thinking clearly. It may not even be their decision at all. In 2015, over 400 people were euthanized against their consent, which was an increase from the slightly over 300 in 2010. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also highlighted issues in the Netherlands in a report, “Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: From Voluntary to Involuntary.”
Physicians are not the only ones who coerce or force a person into ending their life. Studies show that many feel pressure, or as if they are a burden, to their family members by continuing their lives. Who is to say that a person cannot be coerced or forced into entering the pod, with someone answering the questions for that person, or coaching them into such answers. The dangerous ramifications cannot be stated enough – especially when younger children are involved, or those who are depressed.
A culture which would accept this kind of device to end someone’s life is one which needs prayer for such a disregard of human life.