A coffin-shaped capsule, which promises relatively painless and peaceful death in under one minute, has cleared legal review in Switzerland, its makers claimed. The death occurs through hypoxia and hypocapnia by reducing the oxygen to a critical level in the pod.
The machine can be operated from inside even by blinking in case the person using it suffers from locked-in syndrome (a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking), the Independent UK reported.
The machine is taken to the preferred location of the user and then the biodegradable capsule is detached from the base in order to serve as a coffin.
Dr Philip Nitschke, the director of the non-profit organisation Exit International, also known as ‘Dr Death’, is the mind behind the suicide pod.
Around 1,300 people died by 'assisted suicide' last year in Switzerland, according to Exit International which has developed the machine.
Barring any unforeseen difficulties, we hope to be ready to make Sarco available for use in Switzerland next year. It’s been a very expensive project so far but we think we’re pretty close to implementation now," Dr Philip Nitschke said.
However, Nitschke received adverse reactions because of the method used by his machine. "Some have even said that it’s just a glorified gas chamber,” the Independent reported.Some even opined that the machine glorifies and glamorises suicide.
At present, only two Sarco prototypes exist, but Exit International is 3D printing a third machine and it is expected to be ready for operation in Switzerland next year.
Despite such antipathetic views of cyberspaces, some mental health professionals
expect therapeutic potentials of online communication as a mode of technologically
mediated or indirect group therapy. By disclosing and sharing one’s vulnerability and
maladaptive feeling with like-minded peers, participants of marginalized cyberspaces may
have their experiences validated and obtain an alternative sense of belonging otherwise
absent from real life. In her studies of women who had experienced birth trauma, Cheryl
Beck (2005) reports several therapeutic benefits of participating in e-mail interviews to
vulnerable populations. By sharing concealed experiences with the interviewer and sub-
sequently with similar women, she notes, the participants were empowered and self-
acknowledged and eventually overcame their fears of isolation. In a similar vein, John
Miller and Kenneth Gergen (1998), in their research of a suicide-related bulletin board,
report several positive effects akin to those developed in group therapy, including vali-
dation of experience, sympathy acceptance, and encouragement, which indicates the
potential of the Internet to serve as a virtual sanctuary for vulnerable individuals. The
social network constituted among “deviant” individuals like the suicidals not only offer
Despite such antipathetic views of cyberspaces, some mental health professionals
expect therapeutic potentials of online communication as a mode of technologically
mediated or indirect group therapy. By disclosing and sharing one’s vulnerability and
maladaptive feeling with like-minded peers, participants of marginalized cyberspaces may
have their experiences validated and obtain an alternative sense of belonging otherwise
absent from real life. In her studies of women who had experienced birth trauma, Cheryl
Beck (2005) reports several therapeutic benefits of participating in e-mail interviews to
vulnerable populations. By sharing concealed experiences with the interviewer and sub-
sequently with similar women, she notes, the participants were empowered and self-
acknowledged and eventually overcame their fears of isolation. In a similar vein, John
Miller and Kenneth Gergen (1998), in their research of a suicide-related bulletin board,
report several positive effects akin to those developed in group therapy, including vali-
dation of experience, sympathy acceptance, and encouragement, which indicates the
potential of the Internet to serve as a virtual sanctuary for vulnerable individuals. The
social network constituted among “deviant” individuals like the suicidals not only offer
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