The inventor of the ‘suicide machine’, dubbed the “Tesla of euthanasia” has been in touch with Scottish politician MSP Liam McArthur about rolling out a gas chamber ‘suicide pod’ scheme in Scotland.
Phillip Nitschke, the founder of assisted suicide lobby group Exit International and the inventor of the ‘Sarco’ suicide machine has been in contact with Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, encouraging him to make use of his ‘Sarco’ suicide machine, should McArthur’s assisted suicide bill pass.
Scotland deeply divided on assisted suicide
Nitschke’s contact with Liam McArthur comes as a recent Scottish Parliament consultation on McArthur’s assisted suicide Bill showed that the public is deeply divided on the issue.
Results of a Scottish Parliament consultation on Liam McArthur’s assisted suicide Bill show that fewer than 50% of respondents to the consultation fully supported the Bill.
The report on the responses shows that of the 21,056 responses to the consultation, only 10,380 (49.30%) fully supported the Bill and 10,120 (48.06%) strongly opposed the Bill, with an additional 556 (2.64%) who either partially opposed, partially supported or were neutral on the Bill.
Support for assisted suicide in Scotland has significantly declined in recent years according to an analysis of data released earlier this year. In an article published in the Journal of Medical Ethics Forum, Professor David Albert Jones, Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, has found that in polling commissioned by the pro-assisted suicide lobby group Dignity in Dying, strong support for “assisted dying” in Scotland decreased from 55% in 2019, to 45% in 2023, and 40% in 2024.
The Sarco suicide machine
Nitschke originally introduced the device, which he calls the “Sarco machine”, in 2019. In an interview with SWI swissinfo.ch given in 2021, Nitschke said “It’s a 3-D printed capsule, activated from the inside by the person intending to die. The machine can be towed anywhere for the death”.
However, the use of the ‘Sarco machine’ has been dogged by controversy. Just two months ago, prosecutors in Switzerland banned its use because they were concerned not only about the legality of its use in the country but also potential ethical issues surrounding its implementation. More recently, at the end of September, an American woman became the first person to use the Sarco suicide machine in Switzerland despite the fact that its illegality was confirmed hours before her death, resulting in the arrest of four people.
The Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray has raised concerns that Liam McArthur’s Bill is “outside the legislative competence of the Scottish parliament”. He also shared concerns about a “fundamental shift” in the role of medical practitioners, “from protecting/enhancing patients’ lives to assisting in termination of life”.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Scotland should continue to resist Nitschke’s horrendous suicide machine and reject Liam McArthur’s extreme assisted suicide Bill, which appears to be rapidly losing support and raising serious concerns at the highest levels of Government”.
“Scotland should be supporting people at the end of their lives to live, not to die”.
