Sarco
Sarco@CUBE

(Re)design Death

2020

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Sarco Short Film

Sarco at Venice Design 2019

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What if we dared to imagine that our last day might also be one of our most exciting?

What if we had more than mere dignity to look forward to on our last day on this planet?

The Idea

The concept of a capsule that could produce a rapid decrease in oxygen level, while maintaining a low CO2 level, (the conditions for a peaceful, even euphoric death) was the brief behind the Sarco.

When Exit was approached in 2012 for a technological solution for a UK man with Locked-in Syndrome, it was the Sarco that emerged. No doctor required and yet completely lawful.

The elegant design was intended to suggest a sense of occasion: of travel to a ‘new destination’ …


Creator

Philip Nitschke
Philip Nitschke

Philip Nitschke

Philip Nitschke is the founder and director of Exit International.

A former medical doctor, in 1996 Philip helped four of his terminally ill patients to die using Australia’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.

Philip is the co-author of:

  • Killing Me Softly: Voluntary Euthanasia and the Road to the Peaceful Pill (with Fiona Stewart) (Penguin, 2005)
  • The Peaceful Pill Handbook (with Fiona Stewart) (Exit International, 2020)
  • Damned If I Do (with Peter Corris) (Melbourne University Press, 2013)

Philip has designed several end of life machines including the CoGen and the DestinyThe Deliverance Machine (used in the Northern Territory by his patients in 1996) is on permanent display in the British Science Museum in London.

Press

The Sarco Pod Promises a Humane Death within 5 to 10 Minutes
The Sarco Pod Promises a Humane Death within 5 to 10 Minutes reports De Volkskrant. The Sarco is viewed intently ...
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Doctor Death
How an Australian came up with the idea of a suicide capsule Philip Nitschke, who says he has watched more ...
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A 3-D Printed Pod Inflames the Assisted Suicide Debate
The pod, known as Sarco, was conceived as a way for people to end their lives without involving a doctor ...
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Suicide capsule ready for test phase in Switzerland
Trouw Newspaper - the Netherlands People who want euthanasia in Switzerland could soon do so with a new method: they ...
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In the works for years, a suicide machine will soon be tested in Switzerland
By Julian Mark December 9, 2021 at 7:25 a.m. EST People wishing to end their lives in Switzerland — one ...
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Sarco aims to take assisted dying out of doctors’ hands with AI & 3D printing
By Tom Bateman • Updated: 09/12/2021 - 12:48 A 3D-printed "suicide capsule" has passed a legal review in Switzerland, potentially ...
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Frequently Asked Questions

Death is a voyage of sorts …
Sarco makes it an
event to remember?

Plans

Plans will be published in due course exclusively in the
Peaceful Pill eHandbook

(age caveats apply)

Making of Sarco 3

To date, there have been 3 editions of the Sarco.

Sarco 3.0 is the version that will, ultimately, be used in Switzerland.

In July 2023, Sarco completed its final technical instrument testing in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The level of oxygen was found to drop precipitously to less than 0 in around 60 seconds.

Furthermore, this state of zero oxygen was retained for up to 15 minutes, thereby ensuring a peaceful and reliable death to the user inside.

Sarco testing in Rotterdam, 24 July 2023

Sarco testing in Rotterdam, 24 July 2023

Sarco testing in Rotterdam, 24 July 2023

Sarco testing in Rotterdam, 24 July 2023

Sarco 3D Printing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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