A neck device that chokes its wearer to death has been promoted at an assisted suicide workshop in London.
Advertising the untested product ahead of last week’s event, Australian citizen Philip Nitschke claimed “the Kairos collar doesn’t ‘strangle’, you lose consciousness in 7 secs, and die painlessly from happy hypoxia”.
Sir John Hayes MP, who had called for Nitschke’s marketing visit to be banned, said it served as “a sobering reminder of how an assisted suicide industry would likely emerge” should Westminster endorse backbencher Lauren Edwards’ Bill.
Outcry
Nitschke — dubbed ‘Dr Death’ — told the Daily Mail that he had decided not to try and bring the prototype into the country for fear it would be “stopped at customs”.
Exit International, of which the rogue medic is founder and director, dismissed objections to his visit by Right to Life UK and Care Not Killing as “radical fringe groups’ wishes”.
At a similar workshop in the Netherlands last year, Nitschke explained: “The collar is put around your neck and when you press the button it suddenly puts pressure on the carotid and the vertebral artery and stops the flow of blood going up to your brain.”
He added: “You can build your own collar and suicide is not a crime. It will work like an airbag in the car; when you press a button, bang, faint and die.”
No restrictions
In 2023, Nitschke told Ireland’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying that it should permit any method of assisted suicide for anyone who has mental capacity.
The scientist criticised countries where euthanasia is already legal, such as the Netherlands, which assesses whether a person can be killed on the basis of certain criteria.
He said: “We see too many people who have got very good non-medical reasons for wanting to die and I would not try to interfere with that.”
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