Daily Mail, published 11 September 2024
The first pictures of the double suicide pod set to be used to euthanise a British couple have been revealed by the assisted dying company behind the controversial new device.
Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, told the Mail this week that they have made the decision to end their lives at the same time in the pod after former nurse Christine was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.
The 80-year-old and her husband, 86, who have six grandchildren, are now set to be the first couple to die with The Last Resort, a Swiss-based organisation that offers assisted dying in the Sarco, unveiled in July.
The two-person pod will be constructed using a 3D printer, will either have one or two buttons the occupants can press to trigger their deaths, and could be ready for use as early as January.
The solo capsule, which has already been built by the firm, has not yet been used after a planned assisted death did not go ahead in July, with a new first ‘occupant’ now expected to die in the machine soon.
Peter and Christine Scott told the Mail this week that they have made the decision to end their lives at the same time
The couple will die in the Sarco, a euthanasia pod unveiled in July by The Last Resort, a Swiss-based organisation
The pod works by replacing air with 100 per cent nitrogen, rendering the occupant unconscious and stopping them from breathing within minutes. The interior of the double pod will be very similar to the inside of this regular one-person Sarco
The pod works by replacing air with 100 per cent nitrogen, rendering the occupant unconscious and stopping them from breathing within minutes, according to Philip Nitschke, its inventor who has been dubbed Dr Death.
The Scotts are among some 120 applicants hoping to use the machine to end their lives, according to The Last Resort, with around a quarter of those on the waiting list said to be British people.
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK, and the couple said this week that they wanted to share their story to add weight to the argument to legalise it.
Peter, a former RAF engineer, is currently working on their application, and says he is anxious about Christine being allowed to use the machine since securing assisted suicide for people suffering from dementia is more difficult than other conditions.
Christina’s diagnosis several weeks ago means the couple’s path to assisted dying may have to be sped up, as she could lose capacity to give consent for an assisted death, according to Fiona Stewart of The Last Resort.
She said the couple would have to go through ‘rigourous and strict’ psychiatric assessments before being allowed to use the pod.
The husband and wife have said they want to die in each other’s arms after a long and happy marriage – a wish shared by many devoted couples.
A number of other couples are also in the process of applying to use Sarco, Stewart said, despite the double pod only being at the design stage.
Earlier this year, Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt and his wife Eugenie, both 93, died hand in hand by euthanasia.
The number of couples opting for joint euthanasia has risen in recent years in the Netherlands, the first country along with Belgium to legalist voluntary death assisted by a doctor – in 2002.
Strict conditions need to be met for both parties, making it extremely rare, but the most recent official figures showed a rise from nine couples dying in this way in 2018, to 29 in 2022.
‘I think there’s a trend towards more couples, because people are living longer, sicker lives,’ said Stewart.
The double pod is noticeably squatter and wider than the original
The husband and wife have said they want to die in each other’s arms after a long and happy marriage of 46 years
Australian euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke (pictured), also known as ‘Dr Death’, is a former physician and the inventor of the pod
‘They are more likely to be married now for a long period of time than you were in past generations, when you’re dying off of the 60s.’
She said it is more difficult there are more hurdles for couples than individuals to get assisted deaths in Switzerland ‘because what needs to be established is that each of them individually wants to die but that they want to die with the other person and that the other person is not pressuring them into it.
‘We need to be sure that each of them, both have capacity. We need to make sure that both are acting voluntarily. It’s not impossible, but we need to make sure its absolutely crystal clear to work in the confines of Swiss law.’
Stewart said that with full psychiatric assessment, she is ‘not particularly worried about people changing their mind once their inside’ the Sarco.
‘I think once you climb in the Sarco – even though there’s a release handle and you can open the door at any time – I think if they’ve been signed off by psychiatrists who are fully registered and know what they’re doing.
‘We can’t second guess that they wouldn’t have regrets. But clearly, it would be better if one of them is going to have regrets, they do it before they get into the Sarco. But that’s why the role of the psychiatry profession is so important.’
The Australian euthanasia advocate, who is a lawyer by training, said that she believes the crisis in the NHS and social care play a part in the number of British people considering euthanaisa.
‘I mean, I think everyone’s worried about the NHS. You know, there’s barely a night that goes by when it’s not on the British news in some capacity,’ she said.
But, she said, ‘it goes beyond the health service towards the fear of not being able to take care of yourself.
An early version of the Sarco Pod, which can be operated internally and works by reducing oxygen levels
‘I think we have to create the space public debate for people to say, “I don’t want to go into a care home. I’d rather die than go into a care home.” And we need to treat that opinion as though it’s a rational, legitimate opinion to hold.
‘You know, some people think they won’t like living in a care home, and then they find it’s great put on them. But it’s not a one size fits all.’
Christina and Peter shared their fears of suffering years of infirmity within the health system, as well as their worries about losing their home and life savings to pay care costs, during an emotional family summit with their son and daughter.
Their shocked children eventually said they would respect their wishes, the couple told the Mail on Sunday.
Stewart praised the couple’s approach to telling their loved ones, and said: ‘I think that they’re showing a great example of how families can act for the future.
‘Because this is a beginning of a trend of being very old but not sick, or getting sick and not being able to get help, to die, even if the UK brings in a law. And I think they’re the tip of the iceberg, actually.’
This is what anti-euthanasia campaigners fear – that offering people a way to end their lives will result in a huge increase in people opting for it when they could be better cared for with palliative or other care at the end of their lives.
Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of anti-euthanasia group Care Not Killing said it was ‘shocking’ that a couple ‘feel that they have no option but to end their life in a gas chamber because they do not believe they will receive care they need from an NHS in crisis.’
Campaigners have argued that elderly people opt for euthanasia out of fear of being a ‘burden’ to their families.
Dr Macdonald added: “This is why the safest law is the one we currently have and why the Government should focus on fixing our broken palliative care system that sees up to one in four Brits who would benefit from this type of care being unable to access it and leads to these sort of terribly sad cases.’
