Exit International, the Australian-based international nonprofit organization that advocates the legalization of voluntary euthanasia, has completed a prototype for a suicide capsule machine that it hopes to soon make available worldwide.
In truth, the invention is mesmerizing. Its sleek, space-aged design is straight out of a “Star Trek” movie. But instead of being hooked up to a jetpack, the pod’s base is a detachable coffin — inhabitants aren’t catapulted into a faraway galaxy but lowered down into the cramped confines of eternal rest.
The magnificently grotesque invention holds the eye like a train wreck — or a bridge collapse. And the implications are revolting. Never before has suicide appeared more alluring or glamorous. A morbid photograph of an elated young woman sitting within the pod, smiling and waving, circulated on social media last month. The image was reminiscent of the final pictures taken of Heaven’s Gate cult members on the eve of their mass suicide in 1997.
Exit International’s pod is also novel in that it purportedly makes for a more pleasant dying experience than traditional euthanization methods. Pod users will not need to consume drugs to finish the deed but simply press a button that floods the chamber with nitrogen, which rapidly reduces oxygen levels. Within minutes, the individual will lose consciousness and die a “pleasant” death. This, according to Exit International, indicates real progress in “dying with dignity.”
“The person will feel a little disoriented and may feel slightly euphoric before they lose consciousness,” Exit Internation’s founder Philip Nitschke said. “The whole thing takes about 30 seconds. Death takes place through hypoxia and hypocapnia, oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation, respectively. There is no panic, no choking feeling.”
Better still, the pod can be produced using a 3D printer. Nitschke ultimately plans to make the blueprints available for anyone to download. A former physician, he has long sought to “de-medicalize” the dying process. This includes the psychiatric component of assisted suicide, which he believes limits the autonomy of the individual choosing to die. By every indication, he is a true believer in the cause and not driven by profit — though it’s difficult to say if that makes him more or less frightening.
Nitschke’s advocacy for the “right to die” goes beyond physician-assisted suicide and toward acceptance of voluntary euthanasia — the latter is distinguished from the former in that it doesn’t require the approval of medical or government authorities. The only requirement for voluntary euthanasia is a willing participant. Only then is the individual in “complete control” of their life and death, according to Nitschke.
While the development of the pod may seem strange and distant to the American public, it tracks with overall cultural trends, making it a harbinger of things to come. According to the most recent Gallup polling, a staggering 74% of Americans now support the practice of euthanasia, though it isn’t clear whether or not respondents comprehend the difference between “physician-assisted suicide” and “euthanasia.” It stands to reason that a nation so heavily in favor of a particular end will gradually cease to quibble over the means.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ten states have legalized physician-assisted suicide, and it is being considered in 19 others. It doesn’t take a genius to see where this road leads — indeed, sleek, high-tech suicide pods are a logical end for a culture determined to denigrate the value of life and easily charmed by the glamorous and the new.
With the invention of the euthanasia pod, we should consider ourselves warned.
Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, and the National Catholic Register.