Visits to the end-of-life Centres Visit to Phoenix Care

Updated 5th Nov, 2026

“After paying the joining fee, you are immediately entitled to a video call at which the precise details of your own requirements can be discussed” 

Phoenix Care was launched in the summer of 2025.   Its founders were, Barbara and Susanna.   Barbara, a registered nurse with a special licence for VAD work, was a long-standing colleague of Erika Preisig, the founder of Lifcircle.   Susanna is a physiotherapist and complementary therapist with almost 40 years experience.   They were later joined by Flemming Scholaart, a Dane who is the Chair of the European Assisted Dying Federation.

For their VAD services they use the Liestal apartment owned by Erika Preisig,   Their relationship with Erika remains very close.

I met Barbara, Susanna and Flemming during my recent (October 2026) visit to Switzerland.   They are now handling between 50 and 60 per year and have a capacity in the region of 80.   They have certainly made a substantial start.

Phoenix Care provides a VAD by means of a cannula in your arm.   The valve must be operated personally by the patient.   If an infusion of this kind is not possible, the medication can be taken as a drink.

The application process

The initial joining fee of Phoenix Care is 150 Swiss francs (£137 or $183) and after paying that you are immediately entitled to a lengthy video call at which the precise details of your own requirements can be discussed.   You will need to have completed an application form and sent a copy of your passport.   No other documentation is required at this stage.   At the end of the video call, you will receive an assessment as to whether a VAD with Phoenix Care is possible – or not.

In common with the other Swiss VAD providers, Barbara and Susanna have received a degree of pushback from some potential patients who have wondered why they should pay anything at all for such initial advice.   Frankly, I think the providers’ position is entirely understandable.   Only 700 people per year actually visit Switzerland for a VAD but our own website, www.theswitzerlandalternative.com, gets at least 10,000 hits a month.   So, for everyone who actually comes, there must be at least twenty five who make serious enquiries about it.   If Phoenix spent an hour each giving free advice to every person who wants it then they would not survive as a business.

If, at the end of the initial video call, the potential patient is told that their application is likely to be successful then the application itself can proceed.   That means that further documentation, including medical reports, will be needed.   The charge for this stage is 3,500 Swiss francs (£3,200 or $4,300) but this will not be charged until a provisional green light is agreed.   Obviously, the fee for the application work will need to be charged if a green light, against expectations, cannot be granted because the applicant’s information during the initial call has been inaccurate or misleading.

From start to finish, an application usually takes between six and ten weeks if the applicant wants to come straightaway, which about 60% do.   “Emergencies” can be handled in as little as seven days.

Some differences

Phoenix Care can sometimes accept patients travelling alone.   Whether they do so, depends very much upon the circumstances of your case.   In all instances close relatives must be informed, but their consent is not required.

Patients who are not yet at an advanced age must have a substantial diagnosed illness.   Once patients are in their later years, the Phoenix view is the effects of several smaller co-morbidities can amount to the “unendurable suffering” that Swiss law requires.   Anxiety about the future can indeed be presented as such a contributor.

The procedure and documentation requirements are totally in line with Swiss law and are therefore common to all providers.   However, there are two minor differences :

• In cases where “mental capacity” might be an issue, Phoenix Care (like the others) requests a supportive opinion from a psychiatrist or geriatrician in an applicant’s own country.   If this proves difficult, and it sometimes does, they will arrange for a special assessment from a Swiss doctor instead.   This will be in addition to the usual pre-VAD appointment at which the application generally is reviewed
• Phoenix Care also have a rather distinctive position in relation to applications from elderly people who are simply satisfied with the life they’ve had and don’t want to run the risks that inevitably come with much greater age.   They point out, for example, that the risks of strokes, falls and coronary failures increase rapidly after the age of 85.   Simple fear of those developments, even in the absence of any other illnesses, would be regarded by Phoenix as an adequate qualification for acceptance.   Whilst such cases would also be acceptable to Pegasos and Athanasios, they could face more difficulties with Dignitas.

Premises and logistics

Phoenix usually suggest that patients should stay at the Hotel Engel in Liestal.   In spite of its recent imperfections, it still offers good rooms and an excellent location.   It is in the centre of the town and within a short car ride of the Phoenix Care VAD apartment.   Other hotels can be recommended if necessary.

The apartment itself has been criticised for its location in the middle of a commercial area and very near an asphalt re-processing factory.   These comments are indeed true but, internally, the apartment itself is perfectly satisfactory for its purpose.   It is large, reasonably accessible, well furnished and well-decorated.   It does not possess the landscape views of the Pegasos suites in Roderis but, if you bear in mind its purpose, is beautiful scenery really necessary ?

Payment

The joining fee is 100 Swiss francs and the annual fee is 50.   The application fee is 3,500 Swiss francs and all other costs, including VAT, amount to 7,100.   The overall total is therefore 10,600 Swiss francs (£9,650 or $13,000).   Payment through WISE is preferred (www.wise.com), in order to avoid hidden costs.   The full balance must be transferred two weeks before the VAD itself.   If full payment has been made but the VAD turns out not to be required (because of the patient’s sudden death beforehand, for example) then a refund will be made within 14 days, subject only to the deduction of costs actually incurred.

Purpose

The addition of “Care” to “Phoenix” was not an accident.   As is apparent from the Phoenix Care website, Barbara and Susanna are keen to adopt a “caring” approach to their work.   They are not simply regarding it as a business and do not see things in a transactional way.   They genuinely care about the personal circumstances of every individual they help.

Like all the Swiss VAD providers, they are driven by a strong belief that the timing, place and manner of an individual’s death must be decided, so far as possible, by that individual themselves.   Their deep respect for personal liberty is accompanied also by a recognition of the difficulty involved in the taking of such decisions.   The care and concern apparent in the Phoenix Care operation is a product of such realities.