FAQs

The Last Resort (TLR) is a non-profit human rights/ end of life association based in Switzerland.

The philosophy of The Last Resort is that access to an elective, peaceful death at the time of one's choosing is a fundamental human right.

The Last Resort is different to existing Swiss assisted suicide groups because we offer:

• free service
• make use of the unique 3D-printed Sarco
• drug-free, elective, peaceful, dignified passing
• we speak English as our mother tongue

And that is just for starters ...

The Last Resort took its name from the Eagles Song 'The Last Resort' on the Hotel California album from 1976. The song has been said to be: "an epic track that presented the entire world as a resort being destroyed by the greedy, self-serving and short-sighted machinations of the human race" with "an alluring pop arrangement". That philosophy resonates with The Last Resort. The beauty of nature should be appreciated not squandered. A peaceful death surrounded by the beauty of nature - what is not to like ...

The Last Resort logo was inspired by the end of summer tradition where cows (& sheep) are decorated in flowers as they descend from the high summer pastures before the snow arrives. The term is 'Transumanza' in Italian, 'Désalpes' in French and 'Alpabzug' in German. The tradition signifies a type of home-coming, the end of a summer well lived and the approach of winter. At The Last Resort we can see parallels with a life well lived and now preparing for its end.

Everyone can support our work by becoming a member. Membership has no age restriction. You can also support our work by way of donations, gifts and bequests.

The Last Resort accepts members from across the world.

There is no age restriction to join The Last Resort and support our work, however, The Last Resort insists that users of the Sarco are aged at least 50 years. Applications from younger people who are seriously physically ill may be considered.

No, the Sarco and The Last Resort are not related to other groups. Despite initial plans to launch Sarco at the Pegasos clinic, this did not occur. In September 2021, Ruedi Habegger approached Exit International to invest CHF500,000 in his new restaurant/ hotel venture in the town of Roderis in Solothurn Canton. After taking professional advice, Exit declined to invest due to concerns with corporate governance. From that time, the groups went their own way.

The brief of designing the Sarco was to make a portable object of aesthetic beauty: a device that could be transported to a chosen outdoor location: eg. the forest, the beach or the mountains. Dying under a clear night sky or in a rainstorm beats a windowless room in an industrial estate.

Sarco is short for sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is an above ground crypt. The earliest sarcophagi are thought to date to the Egyptian pharaohs. Of course, Ruedi Habegger of Pegasos suggested that the Sarco should be renamed Pegasos. When Philip Nitschke wanted to keep the name Sarco, Ruedi went on to found his own assisted suicide clinic using the Pegasos name.

The Sarco is not and never will be for sale. In due course, the 3D print plans will be published in The Peaceful Pill eHandbook so people over 50 years and of sound mind (the criteria for purchase of the book) may print their own.

At the current time the Sarco is not available for sale or loan.

As with all assisted suicide clinics in Switzerland, an application to use Sarco is not immediate. When a person makes the decision to die, that decision must be long-held and considered.

Yes, The Last Resort will use the same Green Light process used by other clinics. This means that a person can apply for an accompanied suicide ahead of time, be approved and then can use the service at a later date once they are ready.

Yes, family, friends and even pets are warmly welcomed when Sarco is to be used. While the user is alone within the capsule when they die, this does not mean they cannot be surrounded by people who they love and who are important to them.

The Sarco can be used any time now in Switzerland. While some media reports have suggested that the use is dependent upon the Swiss authorities giving some type of approval, this is not the legal advice received by The Last Resort. Sarco is expected to be able to be used at people's private residences in Switzerland in the near future.

The Apply link can be found at: https://www.thelastresort.ch/support/apply/

The Sarco is able to be lawfully used in Switzerland because this is one of the few countries in the world where it is not a crime to help someone to die (under certain conditions). Even in countries where assisted dying and euthanasia are lawful, the Sarco is not permitted. This is because, in those countries (eg. Netherlands), only doctors can help patients to die. In the Netherlands, the doctor must use a set regime of drugs. In the Netherlands, the person must be terminally ill (normally) or suffering unbearably. In almost all countries, old age, on its own, is not sufficient.

No, the Swiss government has not approved the use of Sarco. This is because Swiss law is such that approval is not necessary. Swiss assisted suicide law allows for the use of a device such as Sarco in the context of assisted suicide as long as 3 main factors are satisfied:

1. The user presses the activation button
2. The user has mental capacity
3. Those providing the Sarco are altruistic in their motives

Upon the first use of Sarco, it is expected that the authorities will launch an investigation to ascertain how the Sarco works and that it does what it claims it will do.

To be helped to die in Switzerland the person must be an adult. The Last Resort insists that users of the Sarco are aged at least 50 years. It is important to understand and appreciate the permanence of death. Younger people who are seriously physically ill may also be considered.

Current legal advice suggests that the Sarco can be used in all Swiss Cantons.

The Last Resort is a Swiss incorporated association. Its operation is fully compliant under Swiss law.

The parts of a Sarco can be printed in around 1250 hours with multiple printers printing.

While the Sarco that will be used in Switzerland is only suitable for one person, a 'couples' Sarco is now in production.

Yes, not all of the Sarco is 3D printed. Some of the fittings (eg. door hinges) are not 3D printed. The nitrogen container in the base of the capsule (the dewar) is not 3D printed. Nor is the perspex window.

The Sarco is 3D printed because it is 3D printing that makes the Sarco 'relatively easily' replicable. The price of 3D printing is also falling exponentially. The ability to make a cost-effective Sarco (and therefore a cost-effective yet reliable means of bringing about a peaceful death) was a core aim of the entire Sarco project.

The same Sarco can be used many times over. The only consumable of the Sarco is the liquid nitrogen. Note - it was first envisaged that the Sarco could also be a coffin. This plan has since been abandoned for environmental and economic reasons. For the sake of the planet and given the resources that go into the 3D print process, it makes far more sense to reuse and recycle than produce singe-use only Sarcos.

Purple is the colour of dignity.

At the current time, the Sarco project has cost over €650,000 in R&D. The project began in 2012. Future Sarcos are expected to cost around €15,000 each, which includes the interior. The cost of the nitrogen is CHF18.

The Sarco in Switzerland is 3D-printed, and it has been assembled and tested in the Netherlands.

The Sarco has gone through a number of iterations in its R&D process. These include a laser-printed timber model that was displayed at the Amsterdam Funeral Fair in 2018 and the non-functioning purple 'showroom model' which was unveiled at Venice Design in 2019 and Cube Design Museum in 2020.

Yes, the Sarco is especially suitable for a person with movement impairment due to either disease (MND/ ALS) or paralysis (quadriplegia). The interior button can be modified so the user within the capsule can activate the process with the blink of an eye, literally.

While the Sarco in Switzerland is only suitable for one person, a 'couples' Sarco is in production.

The Sarco brings about death by replacing the normal room air (21% oxygen/ ~79% nitrogen) with 100% nitrogen. This means there is no oxygen in the capsule. Without oxygen, a person will quickly lose consciousness and die soon after. The death is peaceful and reliable.

Sarco does NOT use, or rely on, posion gas of any kind. Sarco uses nitrogen gas. Nitrogen gas is not poisonous. Nitrogen gas makes up 79% of the air that we breathe.

No, the Sarco is not a gas chamber. Gas chambers (eg. during the Holocaust or in American capital punishment) used poisonous gas (eg. Zyklon B - Hydrogen Cyanide). Sarco does not use poisonous gas. In capital punishment in the US, the poison gas carbon monoxide was used. Sarco uses NO poison gas.

The January 2024 execution of death row prisoner, Kenny Smith, was a violent non-elective death. Kenny did not want to die and so did all he could (eg. held his breath) to prevent the process being effective. Sadly, he failed. Dr Philip Nitschke appeared as an expert witness in court in Montgomery, Alabama in December 2023 for the defense (for Kenny Smith). He met Kenny shortly prior to his death at Holman Correctional Centre. Dr Nitschke's main point in his deposition was that a nitrogen hypoxia death (low oxygen) should never be forced on a person. Nitrogen hypoxia is only peaceful when the recipient is a willing participant and is willing to take deep, purposeful breaths. Dr Nitschke also testified that facemasks should never be used because of the risk of air leakage once the recipient loses consciousness and their facial muscles relax.

To be clear, the Sarco:
- is not a device that will ever be used in the context of a non-elective death
- does not involve the use of a face mask
- Sarco does not use compressed gas

The American Veterinary Association warns against the use of nitrogen hypoxia. However, if the AVA statements are read closely, they say that while nitrogen hypoxia is advised against for most mammals, the exception is pigs. Yet it is pigs that are most close to humans in terms of their physiology. Nitrogen (and helium) hypoxia have been mainstay methods of a peaceful death in the right to die movement for the past 20 years or so years.

Jews Against Gassing are an anti-capital punishment lobby group. While their aims are admirable their science is lacking. Kenny Smith was not executed using poison gas. Kenny was killed by the State of Alabama by being deprived oxygen. Kenny Smith had a facemask strapped to his head. The tube that was connected to this facemask began the process of execution by feeding him air (21% oxygen & 79% nitrogen). At some unidentified time in the process, this air was switched to 100% nitrogen gas. It was not the nitrogen gas that killed Kenny, it was the lack of oxygen. This execution had nothing to do with the poisonous gases that were used during the Holocaust.

The Last Resort is free because we believe that a good death is a fundamental human right. There is no moral mandate to charge CHF10K plus for a peaceful and reliable assisted suicide. Exit Schweiz (the group that caters to Swiss nationals and residents) does not charge huge amounts. The Last Resort agrees with this approach.

Yes, there is a range of costs that a person who dies at The Last Resort will pay. For example, a person must organise a funeral home to remove their body and then there is cremation. This cost varies from canton to canton. Another minor cost is the cost of the liquid nitrogen purchase (CHF18). TLR can assist with these matters but the payment will be a matter for the service provider and the user of the Sarco.

The main groups that provide assisted suicide services to foreigners charge around the same amount for their services. Exit Schweiz (the group that caters to Swiss nationals and residents) does not charge the same. When asked at a recent UK Parliamentary inquiry why Exit Schweiz and Dignitas charged such different amounts, the answers given were obtuse. This left the committee and the public none the wiser.

The Sarco does not encourage suicide. It takes many months to print / assemble a Sarco (and considerable money). If a person (eg with depression) seeks to (irrationally) suicide, they will be much more likely to find the most easy and immediate means (eg. jumping in front of a train or using a gun). Sarco takes time, money and planning.

Suicide is never glamorous. Making the decision to take your own life is the most serious decision a person will ever make. But there is a difference between the irrational suicide of a mentally ill teen and the considered rational suicide of an elderly person who says that they have lived long enough and now is the time to go. The Sarco is for the elderly. It is for people who have lived a good, long life. The Sarco is also for those who are seriously ill and suffering. The Sarco is not, and never will be, for the young. The Last Resort fully believes and supports suicide prevention among the young. But this does not mean that older people should be denied agency over their end of life decisions.

The design plans of the Sarco will be published, in due course, in The Peaceful Pill eHandbook Essentials Edition at www.peacefulpillhandbook.com.

The Sarco is not banned in Switzerland. However there have been several fanciful news articles from journalists who have never been granted an interview. Never let the facts stand in the way of a good story!

The Sarco could be used in any Canton in Switzerland. This includes Schaffhausen, St Gallen and Valais, as some media reports have written.

This has not yet been decided. Some people have come close to using Sarco but no one has yet used the device. The Last Resort remains open to expressions of interest via the Contact Us Page.

The lawyers for The Last Resort have uncategorically stated that no one will be sent to jail when the Sarco is used (or before it is used). As a western democracy, Switzerland operates on a rule of law principle.

The lawyers for The Last Resort have been in contact with the Schaffhausen public prosecutor, exploring ways for the Sarco to be lawfully used in this Canton (amongst others). The public prosecutor quoted has been briefed and should be clear about how the Sarco works. Their comments were recorded before this briefing took place.

The Last Resort has taken extensive legal advice and is very willing to cooperate with any investigation that a prosecutor may wish to conduct.

Philip Nitschke has no role in The Last Resort, beyond being a technical advisor to the Sarco project. Philip has created a working Sarco device and is now focused on other projects, including the implantable plug for dementia sufferers and AI-based mental capacity testing.

The two organisations work closely together.

TLR withdrew access over concerns about the woman's mental health which deteriorated noticeably during the two weeks prior to her planned use of the Sarco.