Featured Image Credit: (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
Topics: Health, Mental Health, UK News, World News
Brenna Cooper
Topics: Health, Mental Health, UK News, World News
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
People who opt to use the Sarco suicide pod will be played an eight worded prerecorded message before making the decision to end their own life.
The controversial assisted dying machine made headlines again yesterday after Swiss authorities confirmed that 'several people' had been taken into custody after a 64-year-old American woman ended her life by using the pod.
Created by Dr Philip Nitschke, Sarco - which is short for sarcophagus - is a 3D-printed chamber which contains a canister of liquid nitrogen.
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Once the occupant enters the pod, they press a button which rapidly decreases the oxygen levels within the capsule and causing the occupant to fall unconscious after one minute.
It is understood that the entire process lasts around 10 minutes.
The Sarco has left people divided ever since the creation was revealed to the public, due to the controversial nature of assisted dying. However, Nitschke insists the invention allows a quick and painless death.
Now, the chilling final moments of someone using the pod have been revealed - including an eight word message which is played aloud.
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According to reports The Daily Mail and AFP, once someone enters the machine they will hear a voice which says, 'if you want to die, press this button'.
It is understood that the process can also be activated via eye movement and voice control for anyone who has reduced mobility. A report from First Post has also added that once the process begins, there is no way to stop or reverse it.
The news comes as British couple Peter, 86, and Christine Scott, 80, have become the first people to sign up to use a 'double pod', which will allow them to die in each other's arms.
Meanwhile, Dr Florian Willet, co-president of The Last Resort Association - the company who created the pods - has since spoken about witnessing the pod be used for the first time, saying the unnamed woman's death was ‘peaceful, fast and dignified’.
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Dr Nitschke added that he was ‘pleased that the Sarco had performed exactly as it had been designed to do: that is to provide an elective, non-drug, peaceful death at the time of the person’s choosing’.
A statement on The Last Resort website also revealed the death took place in a wooded area in Canton of Schaffhausen, close to the Swiss-German border.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.