Inventor of ‘death capsule’ says he will bring device to UK if new law passes | Tech news

The man who invented the Tesla of Euthanasia is “very keen” to bring it here if a new law allowing assisted dying is passed.

MPs will discuss the bill on Friday and it will continue, and then Dr Philip Nitschke will think about how to import his Sarco death capsules.

If you haven’t heard of them, they are pods large enough for one person to lie down in and that can be filled with lethal amounts of nitrogen gas at the touch of a button.

They have a transparent window that allows users to look at the view they love in their final moments.

But the pods are controversial, even beyond the obvious cause: the only person ever to die in one was found with signs of strangulation in September, and an employee was arrested over it in Switzerland.

However, this has not stopped the company from thinking about expansion: Dr Nitschke told The Telegraph that many Britons are following his project “very closely” and he would “really like” to bring his capsules to the UK.

He suggested that the Lake District might be a good place to create one.

“I think this will just provide an additional option for those who don’t want an igloo and don’t want to drink… who like what I call the stylish and elegant experience that this device takes to some idyllic location.

“For people who have a choice of day and time… it’s the most important day of your life, presumably the day you die.”

Sarco cost $1 million (£789,000) to develop and build, Mr Nitschke said.

Users are expected to lose consciousness and die within minutes of introducing the gas into the sealed chamber.

The 64-year-old woman who died in September has not been identified but Mr Nitschke, a registered physician, said she had “impaired immune function” which left her “susceptible to chronic infection”.

He said any claims that she was strangled are “absurd because we have film that the capsule was not opened.”

Peter Sticher, a prosecutor in the northern region of Schaffhausen who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Swiss law allows assisted suicide as long as the person takes their own life without “external assistance” and those who help a person die do not do so “for any selfish reasons,” the government website says.

On November 29, members of the UK Parliament will vote for the first time in nine years whether to legalize euthanasia or not.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer granted a free vote on the issue and his cabinet split. Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood have spoken out against legalization, while Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy have said they will vote for it.

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