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’ … |
Highlights

Sarco @ NVVE 50th Birthday, 2023
June 5, 2023
The Sarco is viewed at the 50th anniversary celebration Dutch NVVERead More

Open End 2 – Geneva 2022
August 14, 2022
On 15 September 2022, Sarco will open as part of the Open End 2 Exhibition in Geneva.Read More

Sarco@Cube Design Museum 2020
January 26, 2020
Sarco goes on display at Cube Design Museum in the NetherlandsRead More
The Idea
Creator

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 Destiny. The 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
Read More

Doctor Death
Read More

A 3-D Printed Pod Inflames the Assisted Suicide Debate
Read More

Suicide capsule ready for test phase in Switzerland
Read More

In the works for years, a suicide machine will soon be tested in Switzerland
Read More

Sarco aims to take assisted dying out of doctors’ hands with AI & 3D printing
Read More
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
.