January 8, 2025
Why do we find it so difficult to talk about voluntary death in the Netherlands?
Opinion by Melvin Keijzer Even in a progressive city like Amsterdam, talking about death is a taboo, argues Melvin Keijzer – and about voluntary dying altogether. He argues for an open debate on self-determination. ‘Only that can reveal where the limits of autonomy should lie.’ Recently, a woman (64) in Switzerland ended her life in […]
January 5, 2025
Young women & Euthanasia in the NL
Young women who request euthanasia in the Netherlands often have a long history in youth care and mental health services according to new research by suicide prevention group ‘113′ and the ‘Euthanasia Expertise Centre’ (the group which advises on euthanasia requests). 397 euthanasia requests from young people Three per cent of all requests made during […]
December 29, 2024
The Year in Review at Exit International
As with most organisations, the end of a busy year is a period for reflection: for looking back and planning forward. The year past (2024) has been a momentous year for Exit, not only because the Sarco project came to fruition but for all the other activities that the organisation managed to cram into a […]
December 29, 2024
Never before has there been so much public focus on self-determination
Suicide capsule ‘Sarco’, Middel X – ‘Never before has there been so much public focus on self-determination around death as now’ Jos van Wijk never minced words: one’s own dying, the 70-year-old believes, is a private matter. No one else needs to interfere with that. Van Wijk made his conviction his work; until 2023, he […]
December 23, 2024
Happy New Year in 2025
To everyone in the Exit community, A heart felt thank you for your support in 2024. This has been a challenging year in terms of the Sarco project but we have come out stronger and more determined than ever. The first use of the Sarco was a mammoth task. The logistics were mind-boggling. In this […]
December 21, 2024
Thing of 2024 – No one held her hand tight
The capsule is built from glossy panels and Plexiglas. You lie in it, tilted back like the pilot of a glider. It looks like a bobsled. Or the aerodynamic sidecar of a motorbike. In the Haarlem workshop where Philip Nitschke (77), an Australian doctor, worked for years on the prototype of the Sarco, there is […]
December 20, 2024
Everyone has the right to die, believes the inventor of the Sarco
Everyone has the right to die, believes the inventor of the suicide capsule. ‘There is nothing wrong with what I am doing’ Philip Nitschke worked on his suicide capsule, the Sarco, for ten years. Its first use led to a criminal investigation. Nevertheless, he continues. ‘You don’t have to be a doctor to understand death.’ […]
December 19, 2024
Rijksmuseum Boerhaave to include suicide capsule in collection
The Sarco, the suicide capsule first used in September, will enter the collection of Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden reports Susan Wichgers Usually, the national Dutch museum of the history of science and medicine, the Boerhaave, collects objects that have already made their mark, says collections manager Christel Schollaardt. The early respirator the iron lung, for […]
