Peter and Christine, who have been married for 46 years, are planning on travelling to Switzerland to die together
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing
The first British couple to sign up for Exit International’s suicide pod will be asked three questions before they end their lives together.
Peter, 86, and Christine Scott, 80, have been married for 46 years. But they are now planning on travelling to Switzerland to die together after former nurse Christine was diagnosed with vascular dementia.
The couple, who have six grandchildren, are in the process of signing up with Swiss organisation The Last Resort, who have given them the option to die in the Sarco death capsule.
The Sarco pod that the British couple plan on ending their lives in (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
Former RAF pilot Peter told the Daily Mail: “We have had long, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives but here we are in old age and it does not do nice things to you.
“The idea of watching the slow degradation of Chris’s mental abilities in parallel to my own physical decline is horrific to me.
“Obviously I would care for her to the point I could not, but she has nursed enough people with dementia during her career to be adamant she wants to remain in control of herself and her life.
“Assisted dying gives her that opportunity and I would not want to go on living without her.”
Philip Nitschke created the suicide pod (JASPER JUINEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Christine – who has spent much of her career looking after patients with dementia – added: “It’s a lovely life but I have this diagnosis, and that’s crystallised our thinking.
“Medicine can slow vascular dementia but it can’t stop it. At the point I thought I was losing myself, I’d say: ‘This is it, Pete, I don’t want to go any further’.”
Dubbed the Sarco Pod, Exit International said the ‘sarcophagus’ is a capsule that can ‘produce a rapid decrease in oxygen level, while maintaining a low CO2 level, (the conditions for a peaceful, even euphoric death)’.
Creator Dr. Philip Nitschke also explained to MailOnline that users would be asked three questions upon entering the machine.
Three questions are asked once inside (ARND WIEGMANN/AFP via Getty Images)
There questions would be: ‘Who are you?’, ‘Where are you?’ and ‘Do you know what happens if you press the button?’
“If they answer those questions verbally, the software then switches the power on so that the button can then be pressed,” he said.
“And if they press the button they will die very quickly. When you climb into Sarco the oxygen level is 21 percent but after you press the button it takes 30 seconds for the oxygen to drop to less than one percent.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
