Doctor promises to bring ‘death capsules’ to UK if assisted dying bill passes | UK | News

A doctor promises to bring “death capsules” to the UK if assisted dying legislation is passed.

Dr Philip Nitschke, 77, invented the Sarco, an euthanasia machine that is filled with nitrogen gas, and says he plans to bring the device to the UK if assisted dying is legalised.

The Assisted Dying Bill, proposed by Labor MP Kim Leadbeater, would “enable terminally ill adults, subject to safeguards, to receive assistance to end their own lives; and for related purposes” and is due to undergo a second reading in the House of Commons later this week.

The machine, dubbed the “Tesla of Euthanasia,” is designed to allow the person inside the device to press a button that will fill the sealed machine with nitrogen gas. A person must fall asleep before he suffocates. Dr. Nitschke believes the machine will be popular among people who are being assisted to die but who don’t want to kill themselves through lethal injection or medical cocktails.

Now the doctor really wants to bring him to the UK.

He told The Telegraph: “We have a lot of members there and a lot of Britons who are following the Sarco project very closely. There would be many possibilities. I would really like to do this.

“It seems to me that this will simply provide an additional option for those who don’t want an igloo and don’t want to drink… who like what I describe as the stylish and elegant facility that this device provides in some idyllic setting.”

The doctor further added that the Sarco capsule could offer people the ability to “choose the day and time” of death, further explaining that the device could accommodate the idea that someone wants to die in a specific place.

He cited the example of the Lake District offering the ideal scenic location to use a Sarco machine, as reported by The Telegraph.

However, Sarco’s capsules sparked controversy after a police investigation began in Switzerland after the first person to use them was allegedly found dead inside with strangulation marks on his neck.

Assisted death is not a criminal offense in Switzerland unless there is a selfish motive and all those involved deny any wrongdoing.

Swiss police confiscated only two completed cars. However, Dr Nitschke told the Telegraph he saw “no reason” why the third car being built in Rotterdam could not be brought to the UK if the law changes.