Visits to the end-of-life Centres Overview

Updated 5th Nov, 2026

“Visitors from outside Switzerland have five to choose from”

In the past four years I have made four visits to the Assisted Dying providers (they dislike being called “clinics”) in Switzerland.   At first, there were just four: Dignitas, EX International, Lifecircle and Pegasos.   In October 2026, there are five – Athanasios and Phoenix Care were launched in 2025.   But Lifecircle is now only providing VAD services for people who were members prior to 2023.

So, visitors from outside Switzerland have five to choose from. *   Separate reports upon each one are shown on this website.

These five, of course, are only the VAD providers that predominantly handle non-Swiss patients.   There are two much larger organisations – EXIT (Deutsche Schweiz) and Exit ADMD Suisse romande – that handle services for the Swiss citizens themselves.   Physician-Supported Assisted Suicide now accounts for 2.5% of all deaths in Switzerland, a country with over nine million people.

The launch dates of the current providers were :

We estimate that they will together handle a total of 700 cases in 2026.   This represents an increase of 120% from 2016 when the estimated total, then for Dignitas and Lifecircle, was just over 300.   Most of the increase has been accommodated by the three newer arrivals.

*   I have not been able to visit EX International but have left a note about them on this site.   There is also The Last Resort, a subsidiary of EXIT International (not the same as EX International) but that is believed not to be active at present.

They are not in it for the money

All of these organisations operate on a not-for-profit basis.   They have to charge fees, of course, and these can seem high.   But none of them are in this business to get rich.   Swiss law forbids this anyway (article 115 of the Criminal Code).   Their prices range from 8,900 to 11,300 Swiss Francs.   Their fees are all similar because they all have to cover the same costs and cannot impose big margins.   Their costs have been judged to be appropriate by the Swiss Courts.

There have been allegations that they are profiteering.   I am convinced such accusations are wrong.   Further, I don’t actually think their prices are too high.   A medium-range care home in my nearby town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire is charging £1,500 per week (1,650 Swiss Francs) so a cost of 10,000 Swiss francs amounts to just six weeks’ stay.   The cost also includes the cremation, international death certificate and return of the ashes.

It is a matter of opinion, of course, but to me the doctors in the USA who are using expensive medications to keep unwilling patients alive are much more guilty of exploitation.

There are now more complex cases

In the four years that I have been making these visits, the provision of VADs in Switzerland has become more complex.   As a rising number of countries and states around the world have legalised assisted dying, albeit mostly within a narrow frame, the people now going to Switzerland are much more likely to have neurological, dementia-related or complex long-term suffering issues.   The more “straightforward” cases, such as terminal cancer, are being handled locally as a result of the newly-passed pieces of legislation.   For people still seeking to travel to Switzerland, the reasons for seeking a VAD can be more difficult to understand.   The necessary task of investigating their applications is consequently more time-consuming, and therefore costly, than used to be the case.

Detailed reports upon all the providers follow on this site.   At a glance, however, it is Dignitas that now stands out as being different from the others.   It is the longest-established after EX International, the only one near Zurich and the only one expressing a preference for the pentobarbital to be taken as a drink rather than through a cannula in the arm.