Sarco pod inventor demonstrates Kairos Kollar, reveals he is working on 'suicide switch'

The man behind the controversial suicide pod has now designed a collar that cuts oxygen supply to the brain, ending a person's life. Dr Philip Nitschke, founder of pro-euthanasia group Exit International, invented the Sarco pod, a 3D-printed capsule that an American woman used to end her life in 2024 in a forest in Switzerland. Several people were arrested in connection with the death, even though assisted dying is legally protected in some circumstances in the country, as critics say Sarco doesn’t meet safety and product-regulation requirements. Now, Nitschke has demonstrated a neck collar that is intended to be used for assisted dying.

The 78-year-old Australian physician unveiled the Kairos Kollar a few days ago. He demonstrated the collar during one of his workshops, hosted by Exit International. When worn around the neck, the collar applies pressure to the carotid arteries and baroreceptors, restricting blood flow to the brain. Dr Nitschke says this causes rapid loss of consciousness followed by death, and does not involve the use of drugs. He wrote on X, “The Exit Kairos Kollar, an important development in the assisted dying quest…fast, reliable, drug-free..and, importantly, unrestrictable.”

According to The Herald Sun, Nitschke told the gathered crowd, "It will work like an airbag in the car, when you press a button, bang, faint and die." He added, “It works in a clever way by putting pressure on two important points on your neck that do two things: the pressure stops the flow of blood to two important arteries.”

The ‘suicide switch’ under development

He also informed those present that another device, called "the suicide switch", is under development. Explaining how it would work, he said, "What the death switch does is to try and resolve what happens when you lose mental capacity, you’re not eligible under any of the laws, you have got to do is have mental capacity." The device is "implanted into your leg and a timer is set for, say, two years, or five years." Once the time is up on the device, it "starts to make a noise, tick, tick, tick, and you think what’s that thing ticking is you just reset it but if you’ve become so demented that you don’t know what it is, you’ve forgotten or don’t understand, it ticks for a day or two on timing and then it kills you."