The Sarco assisted suicide method constitutes torture.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Sarco Suicide Pod is sold to the public as an easy and pain free death. The Sarco is also designed in a sleek manner to make it seem fashionable to die in this manner. But how does death by Nitrogen gas actually work?

The Sarco kills a person by releasing nitrogen gas into the pod causing the person to die of asphyxiation. The Guardian reported Nitscke, the inventor of the suicide pod, describing the first death in the Sarco suicide pod in this way:

He (Nitschke) said he thought she had lost consciousness “within two minutes” and had died after five minutes. “We saw jerky, small twitches of the muscles in her arms, but she was probably already unconscious by then. It looked exactly how we expected it to look,”

Ed Pilkington reported for The Guardian on September 27 concerning the recent capital punishment death of Alan Miller, the second person in Alabama to die by using Nitrogen gas. Pilkington reported:

Miller shook and trembled on the gurney for about two minutes with his body at times pulling against the restraints, followed by about six minutes of gasping, according to the Associated Press.

The lethal method involves being strapped down with a respirator mask applied to the face and pure nitrogen piped in. The resulting oxygen deprivation will cause death by asphyxia.

Pilkington also reported on the death of Kenneth Smith, who was the first one in Alabama to die by capital punishment using the Nitrogen method:

The first nitrogen execution was carried out, also by Alabama, in January.

“Smith began to shake and writhe violently, in thrashing spasms and seizure-like movements … The force of his movements caused the gurney to visibly move at least once. Smith’s arms pulled against the straps holding him to the gurney. He lifted his head off the gurney and then fell back.”

Even though Nitschke describes the death in a positive manner, the discription of the deaths seem similar with the only real difference being that the woman who died in the suicide pod was seeking death.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , who support assisted suicide, described the death of Kenneth Smith as a:

method constitutes torture, violating international human rights treaties ratified by the U.S.

The ACLU then stated:

Veterinary scientists, who have carried out laboratory studies on animals, have even largely ruled nitrogen gas out as a euthanasia method due to ethical concerns. Authorities in the U.S. and Europe have issued guidelines discouraging its use for most mammals, citing potential distress, panic, and seizure-like behavior.

Death by Nitrogen gas is not acceptable for animals and is defined as a method that constitutes torture and yet Nitschke described the death as looking exactly as expected.