Philip Nitschke He is a controversial character in the world of medicine. The Australian, also known as “Doctor Death”, is one of the main promoters of euthanasia in the world with your capsule Sarco. Now, his name did not transcend for that reason, but for his forceful opinion on the impact of artificial intelligence in the area.
In statements shared Thursday by EuronewsNitschke points out that AI could one day replace psychiatrists that evaluate whether people who want to die by euthanasia are mentally capable of making the decision.
For him, doctors should not be “turning the page to give you permission or not to die.” «I saw many cases where the same patient, seeing three different psychiatrists, received four different answers,» he says.
As a solution, “Doctor Death” proposes an AI system with a conversational avatar to assess patients’ capacity.
If the AI determines that a person is of full use of their faculties, assisted death would be activated through their capsule, with a period of 24 hours to continue before another evaluation is carried out. The software is already being worked on.
Sarco, the controversial “Doctor Death” system
Sarco (for sarcophagus), Philip Nitschke’s most popular invention, consists of a 3D capsule designed for a person who wants to die assisted to walk in, lie down and press a button.
Once done, the capsule reduces oxygen and fills the space with nitrogencausing the death from hypoxia.
The first and only time it was used was in Switzerland, in September 2024, and it was a scandal. At the time, Swiss authorities arrested the executive director of the assisted dying organization The Last Resort which promoted the device for violating the law that allows assisted suicide only under strict conditions.
«On Monday, September 23, around 4:01 p.m. (2:01 p.m. GMT), a 64-year-old woman from the Midwest of the United States died using the Sarco device,» The Last Resort said.
The association said the woman «suffered for many years from a series of serious problems related to a severe immune deficiency.»
That day, the police reported that a law firm had informed the authorities that «an assisted suicide with the Sarco capsule had taken place in the afternoon in a forest cabin in Merishhausen.»
«Accordingly, the Schaffhausen police, including the forensic service and the canton public prosecutor’s office, intervened at the scene,» the statement concluded. The capsule was confiscated and the body of the deceased was transferred for autopsy.
