GS Paper - II

Switzerland police arrested at least four persons recently for their involvement in the death of a 64-year-old American woman by a ‘suicide pod’. The woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, reportedly suffered from an autoimmune condition for years.

This incident has turned the spotlight on the contentious Sarco pod, engineered by Dr Philip Nitschke, an Australian physician who founded the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. More crucially, it also raises questions about the ethics of assisted dying and euthanasia.

What are euthanasia and assisted dying?

• Both euthanasia and assisted dying are ways in which a person may intentionally choose to end their life.
• Euthanasia relies on the presence of a physician to address a lethal drug to the person. Euthanasia may be of two kinds — voluntary, where the patient gives their explicit consent, and involuntary, when they are unable to do so, possibly because they are in a coma.
• Assisted dying, on the other hand, is understood to rely on self-administration of the lethal substance, with medical involvement restricted simply to the procurement of the drug.
• Assisted suicide according means to intentionally help another person end their life, and does not stipulate that the person is terminally ill.

What is the Sarco pod?

• Named after sarcophagus, the stone coffin used to bury ancient royalty, the Sarco is a coffin-sized, air-tight machine designed by Exit International.
• First made in 2019, the Sarco pod consists of a 3D-printed detachable capsule placed on a stand with a canister of liquid nitrogen.
• A person lying inside it could press a button to initiate the dying process, flooding the air inside it with nitrogen gas.
• The device was designed and built in the Netherlands by Nitschke and Dutch engineer Alex Bannink over 12 years and cost around €650,000 ($725,000) to research and develop. Future pods are estimated to cost around €15,000 and to be reusable.
• The device is portable and can be transferred where one chooses, with Nitschke writing, “Where you die is certainly an important factor.”

Has the Sarco Pod violated Swiss laws on assisted dying?

• Active euthanasia is banned in Switzerland. However, assisted dying and assisted suicide are legal as long as the person ends their life without any “external assistance” and those who help them do not have “any self-serving motive”.
• The country’s laws on assisted dying and assisted suicide have made it a preferred destination for “death tourism,” wherein people come there to end their lives.
• According to critics, the Sarco Pod allegedly exploits a loophole in Swiss laws on euthanasia and assisted dying.