A highly controversial 3D printed suicide pod has been used for the first time, leading to multiple arrests in Switzerland. The device is so DIY-friendly that you could technically build it at home, assuming you’ve got the right tools and, well, the necessary motivation.
The capsule-shaped pod is designed by Australian pro-euthanasia activist and Exit International founder Philip Nitschke. Known as “Sarco,” it was used by a 64-year-old woman from the United States on Monday, according to several media reports. This marks the first time the device has been used on a human patient.
The Sarco is activated by the person inside, who presses a button that fills the chamber with nitrogen gas, dropping the oxygen level to zero and causing them to quickly lose consciousness before suffocating. Carbon dioxide levels are kept to a minimum, with the goal of ensuring a peaceful death.
The space-age design of the capsule is meant to suggest a sense of travel, and “to dispel any ‘yuk’ factor” around the idea of a suicide machine, Exit International said. It was also designed to require no special skills to operate, be free from difficult-to-obtain drugs (it’s filled with liquid nitrogen) and not need the direct involvement of a medical professional since there’s no need to insert an IV line or other medical devices.
In other words, it’s dead simple if you have the means to make one.
DIY your end-of-life decision with a 3D printer and a Raspberry Pi
When we said it was a simple device, we meant it: The Sarco 3 (the third iteration of the capsule and the version used in Monday’s assisted death) is designed to be 3D printed – provided you have a big enough setup.
Being the size of a casket, the Sarco is big, so don’t expect to print it on your Flashforge. It also needs a lot of filament, being human-sized and all, with Exit International saying that it cost around €17,000 ($19k) to print one, based on the rates a 3D print shop would charge.
“It’s 3D printed in segments, then assembled,” Nitschke told The Register in an interview. “But still something that needs significant printers.”
The Sarco 3 being tested in Rotterdam – Click to enlarge
If you manage to get someone to 3D print the Sarco for you, the next step is loading the Sarco software onto a Raspberry Pi. The control system asks a series of questions to the occupant to determine whether they mentally fit enough to operate the device before enabling the activation button using voice interpretation software.
“This is the activation procedure for the Sarco and is already part of Sarco 3.0,” Exit International noted. Sarco said that it wants to eventually use an AI to make further mental health assessments of patients, but it’s still in development.
“It is clear that the questions asked in no way passes as an assessment of mental capacity, but the program can be refined and extended,” the organization said [PDF] in a Sarco project update last year.
As for how to obtain the 3D printing design files and software for the Sarco, Exit International said they are “not and never will be for sale,” but will be available with a subscription to the group’s Peaceful Pill eHandbook. The eHandbook site, which serves as a community for those interested in planning their own end of life and includes information on different methods as well as how to plan for travel to Switzerland to seek physician-assisted death, is only available to individuals over the age of 50, and requires identity verification as well as a fee of €95 ($105) for 24 months of access.
The design files for the Sarco aren’t yet available on the website, Nitschke told us, only saying that publication would follow the recent first successful use. Availability for the Raspberry Pi software wasn’t mentioned.
Nitschke has also been working on an implant that would be able to euthanize Alzheimer patients unable to make their own care decisions, and told us the first one has been built. It will only be loaded with saline to test the timing technology used in the implant, we’re told.
The implant is considered part of the Sarco project’s goals, as listed in the progress report from last year.
Pod legality still uncertain
Swissmedic, Switzerland’s drug and medical products regulatory body, determined last month that the Sarco wasn’t classified as a therapeutic product or medical device because “a device that is used solely for suicide contradicts the medical purpose under therapeutic products legislation and cannot be classified as a medical device.”
“Further regulatory clarifications on the qualification and legitimation of the device from a legal, health policy and ethical perspective would appear to be advisable, along with a broad-based public discussion,” Swissmedic concluded.
With that in mind, it makes sense that several people were arrested at the scene in a rural region near Switzerland’s border with Germany. The Sarco pod was also seized, and the body of the deceased was recovered for autopsy.
“Several persons” arrested are now being investigated for incitement and aiding and abetting suicide, local police said yesterday.
Police noted that the public prosecutor was “also investigating the violation of other criminal offenses” related to the incident, but didn’t specify what those may be.
Nitschke declined to comment on the arrests, but told us a decision regarding charges would be made by Swiss officials soon. ®