Athanasios was launched in March 2025. By the end of the year it had completed 82 AVD cases and had built a team of eight staff members. From a standing start it had therefore served about 12% of the non-Swiss people seeking to end their lives peacefully in Switzerland. That was quite an achievement.
Their success reflects a notable change in the people seeking Swiss AVDs. In the original days when Dignitas and Lifecircle were the only AVD providers, everyone had to join as a “member”. Thousands did so, usually as a contingency plan for the future. Most members never actually applied for a “green light” acceptance and, of those that did, many chose not to use it.
That model still often applies, certainly for Dignitas.
Athanasios does not work on a “membership” model. Instead, you pay a one-off non-returnable fee of 100 Swiss Francs and make your application for a green light immediately. The 100 Swiss Francs covers all initial administration, triage and evaluation. If your application is approved then you usually proceed rapidly to arrange an AVD. At that stage your second payment is made, with the final sum being requested four weeks before the agreed date itself.
This means that the demand for AVD services in Switzerland has switched away from long term planning towards the need for an instant solution. It is likely that this switch has been caused by the huge increase in interest from the USA since the beginning of 2025. This website, designed for a British audience, now receives almost half its total hits from America (the UK is around 23%).
It is also interesting that Athanasios is usually happy to accept patients on their own – which Dignitas and Pegasos are not.
The two new AVD providers of 2025, Athanasios and Phoenix Care, are both now making their distinctive contributions to this unique worldwide service. As they do so, they are generating the gratitude of hundreds of people around the world who would otherwise have found themselves with acute suffering.
