New double 'suicide pod' created so couples can die together

The inventor of the 'suicide pod,' Dr. Philip Nitschke, has announced he has created a pod that allows two people to commit suicide together.

Key Takeaways:

• Dr. Philip Nitschke has invented the Double Dutch Sarco pod, a suicide pod in which two people can die together.

• A British couple is hoping to be the first to use it, but it can't be used until an investigation into the first death in the original Sarco pod has been completed and the pods are deemed legal.

• The Double Dutch is intended to use AI to "skip the psychiatric assessment" a person would typically need to have with a psychiatrist before using the pod.

• If the person passes the AI test, they will have 24 hours to use the pod.

The Details:

After Nitschke's original Sarco Pod was used to end the life of a 64-year-old American woman in 2024, he said one of the criticisms the pod received was that it was "lonely."

"One of the comments made was: 'It's so lonely, I want to be held by someone when I die... when you're in a capsule, you're isolated,'" Nitschke told The Daily Mail.

The catch? The person with you has to die too.

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‘The Double Dutch Sarco pod, a new-and-improved #euthanasia capsule, now augmented with AI and purpose-built for couples who want to draw their last breaths side by side.’ Dystopian, but a logical step on the road if you accept, as Lord Markham told the Lords on Friday, that

12:20 PM · Jan 19, 2026

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Nitschke created the Double Dutch Sarco pod to allow two people to die together.

His first customers may be a British couple who are romanticizing their deaths by saying they want to use it to "die in each other's arms." It uses AI to maximize efficiency following the controversial first use of the pod, in which the woman may have taken longer to die than expected.

"One of the parts to the device which hadn't been finished, but is now finished, is the artificial intelligence," said Nitschke. That AI would allow users to skip the psychiatric assessment and instead undergo an AI 'test.' If they pass, it would activate "the power to switch on the Sarco."

READ: Three reasons a Dutch ethicist changed his mind about assisted suicide

"Traditionally, [the psychiatric evaluation] is done by talking to a psychiatrist for five minutes, and we did that [with the first pod user.] She had a rather traditional assessment of mental capacity through a Dutch psychiatrist," he said. "But with the new Double Dutch, we'll have the software incorporated, so you'll have to do your little test online with an avatar, and if you pass that test, then the avatar tells you you've got mental capacity."

The power will switch on, and the person will have 24 hours to use it to die.

"I've noticed over the last decade, where couples have been together for a long time, [they] often do say they wish to die together," Nitschke said. "One may be very sick, and often is, and that's why they want help to die, but their partner says: 'Look, I've been with this person for 50 years, and I want to die at the same time.'"

He added, "Under the laws of just about everywhere except Switzerland, that's not possible. I mean, you've got to be sick. You've got to be so sick that you'd qualify under the restrictions — that is, terminally ill."

Yet, Nitschke's first Sarco pod death is still under investigation, and the Double Dutch can't be used unless the investigation concludes that the pods are legal.

Why It Matters:

Suicide has historically been seen as a tragedy, but now dying by suicide has become acceptable as long as the person is sick or disabled and a doctor treats their death as health care. It has even been romanticized as an example of devoted love when two individuals decide they wish to end their lives together.

But most people who wish to access assisted suicide do not do so because they want to die, but because of fear; some may fear being alone, while others fear being a burden on their loved ones. In areas where assisted suicide is legal, some individuals are pressured to die by government-run health insurance and private health insurers because it is far cheaper to pay for a person's suicide than to pay for potentially years of treatment.

In addition, the double pod's AI feature will ensure that those choosing to die now must do so under the added pressure of a ticking clock.