Doctor behind controversial 'suicide pod' shows off brand new device
The doctor responsible for creating the controversial Sarco 'suicide pod' has shown off a new 'drug-free' device.
Dr Philip Nitschke, founder of pro-euthanasia group Exit International, is the inventor of the Sarco pod - a 3D-printed capsule that enables a person to end their life by pressing a button.
It works by slowly lowering oxygen levels using nitrogen, which leads to rapid unconsciousness and death within 10 minutes.
The machine became the centre of legal controversy in Switzerland after an American woman, 64, used it to end her life in 2024.
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Swiss authorities arrested several people connected to the event and stated that the Sarco doesn’t meet safety and product-regulation requirements, despite assisted suicide being legal under strict conditions.
Now 78, the Australian physician has unveiled his latest assisted-dying invention, known as the Kairos Kollar.
A demonstration of the Kairos Kollar took place during one of Nitschke's workshops, hosted by Exit International, the non-profit he founded to provide information about assisted suicide.
The collar has been designed to apply pressure to the carotid arteries and baroreceptors in the neck, which essentially restricts blood flow to the brain.
According to Dr Nitschke, this causes rapid loss of consciousness followed by death, without the need for drugs.
Taking to X, he wrote: "The Exit Kairos Kollar, an important development in the assisted dying quest…fast, reliable, drug-free..and, importantly, unrestrictable."
"You can build your own collar, and suicide is not a crime," he added to the guests, according to the Herald Sun.
"It will work like an airbag in the car, when you press a button, bang, faint and die.
"It works in a clever way by putting pressure in two important points on your neck that does two things, the pressure stops the flow of blood to two important arteries.
"The collar is put around your neck and when you press the button it suddenly puts pressure on the carotid and the vertebral artery and stops the flow of blood going up to your brain."
Another device known as 'the suicide switch' is also under development, says Dr Nitschke
“What the death switch does is to try and resolve what happens when you lose mental capacity, you’re not eligible under any of the laws, you have got to do is have mental capacity,” he added.
“The switch is a small device implanted into your leg and you set it for a year, two years, five years whatever.
“After two or five years, the timer starts to make a noise, tick, tick, tick, and you think what’s that thing ticking is you just reset it but if you’ve become so demented that you don’t know what it is, you’ve forgotten or don’t understand, it ticks for a day or two on timing and then it kills you.”
While assisted suicide remains illegal in the UK, a new bill for terminally ill people in England and Wales has been approved to give them the right to an assisted death.
The bill could become law within the next four years.
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.
Topics: World News, Health
Anish Vij