Sarco pod

[2][3] It is used in conjunction with an inert gas (nitrogen) which decreases oxygen levels rapidly which prevents panic, sense of suffocation and struggling before unconsciousness, known as the hypercapnic alarm response[4]: 45  caused by the presence of high carbon dioxide concentrations in the blood.

On activation, 4 litres (1.1 US gal) of liquid nitrogen causes the oxygen level to drop silently to less than 5% in less than one minute.

Nitschke has said that the design is intended to resemble that of a spaceship, in order to give users the feel that they are traveling to the "great beyond".

[7] Thaddeus Pope, a bioethicist at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law, said the debate over Sarco may result in a new way of approaching end-of-life options by legislators, saying that "That might be bigger or more important than the actual Sarco itself," and that Nitschke was "illustrating the limitations of the medical model and forcing us to think.

[13] On 23 September 2024, police in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen arrested several people, including possibly The Last Resort CEO Florian Willet [de], after a 64-year-old woman from the United States had used the machine.

The public prosecutor's office for the canton announced the opening of criminal proceedings for the inducement, aiding and abetting of suicide.