Sarco suicide pod turns death into a consumer experience

As the house of Dignitas, Switzerland has lengthy taken a benign view of euthanasia. However plainly moveable gasoline chambers are a step too far. On Monday, an American lady killed herself in a Sarco pod, a 3D-printed capsule which kills its inmate with nitrogen. A number of individuals, together with a photographer, have been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting suicide.

Though its inventor likes to boast in any other case, this isn’t fairly a world first: Alabama lately executed a assassin utilizing the identical method. However as an alternative of the unlovely William C. Holman Correctional Facility proper off Alabama State Route 21, the loss of life chamber on this occasion was positioned in a picturesque little bit of forest within the Jura Mountains.

A photograph taken shortly earlier than the occasion reveals an inside with snug mushy furnishings and a journey pillow of the type you purchase at airports. The official description is “luxurious”; and whereas I might not go that far, its setup bears an uncanny resemblance to the cozy sleep pods which may now be present in college libraries and airports.