Doctor behind notorious Sarco euthanasia pod shows off new 'suicide collar'
that kills patients by applying 'pressure' to the neck
He was also behind notorious Sarco euthanasia pod
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Published: 09:17 EST, 20 December 2025 | Updated: 06:58 EST, 21 December 2025
It's a fresh Monday morning in the quaint city of Amersfoort in the Netherlands, and a group of elderly guests are listening attentively to the words of an Australian physician.
Dr Philip Nitschke, the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, lethal voluntary injection, and the inventor of the controversial Sarco pod, is presenting his latest gadget.
The Australian-born founder of Exit International, the non-profit that provides guidance on assisted suicide, stirred controversy in 2024 when a woman ended her life using the so-called suicide pod, in apparently the first case of its kind.
But undeterred by the negative press and people repeatedly calling him 'Dr Death' - a nickname he doesn't enjoy - Dr Nitschke is as passionate as ever about expanding access to euthanasia.
The 20 attendees are gathered for one of the 78-year-old's 'Exit workshops' that cover, according to his website, legal issues surrounding euthanasia, the physiology of death, and suicide methods such as 'gases', 'drugs and other substances', 'Swiss option (including discussion of the Sarco)', and 'the new Kairos Kollar'.
It's the Kairos Kollar that Dr Nitschke is live demonstrating to his observant guests, but on a plastic mannequin with silver hair, of course.
It works by putting pressure against the carotid arteries and baroreceptors in the neck, cutting off blood flow to the brain and causing the wearer to lose consciousness before dying.
In a post on X, Dr Nitschke could hardly conceal his excitement for the developing technology: 'The Exit Kairos Kollar, an important development in the assisted dying quest…fast, reliable, drug free..and, importantly, unrestrictable!'
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Dr Philip Nitschke with his new invention, the Kairos Kollar
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Dr Philip Nitschke showcasing the Kairos Kollar at one of his Exit International workshops
Dr Nitschke lies down in a 'suicide pod' known as 'The Sarco' in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The death workshops tend to be three hours, including a tea and biscuit break as well as an extensive Q&A with the euthanasia expert himself.
For the doctor, one of the most important considerations when developing new technology is how it'll dodge what he perceives as each country's restrictive assisted suicide laws.
That's what makes Kairos Kollar such a 'game-changer', according to his website.
'You can build your own collar and suicide is not a crime,' Dr Nitschke told his guests, according to the Herald Sun which attended the workshop in Amersfoort.
'It will work like an airbag in the car, when you press a button, bang, faint and die.'
In this particular session, the Kairos Kollar is designed with a particularly cheerful colour pallet, considering its purpose - fit a rainbow-coloured rim and bright orange tubes.
The contraption provides a 'peaceful, fast and reliable passing', it's 'cheap and simple to make' and is 'entirely lawful', according to Exit International.
That's important, because Dr Nitschke's Sarco pod caused quite a stir with the legal authorities in Switzerland when a 64-year-old woman resigned to the northern forest to take her own life with the assistance of the futuristic device. |
