The end-of-life Centres Addresses and contact points

“There are six end-of-life centres in Switzerland but only four of these offer their services to non-residents”

The centres themselves prefer longer descriptions like “centres for legal self-administered end-of-life services”or “centre for voluntary assisted death”.   Dignitas seems relaxed about the label “assisted suicide” centre but the others are not.   For convenience, this guide is simply referring to them all as “the centres” or “end-of-life centres”.

In total, there are six in Switzerland.   Two, however, only provide their services to people who are already resident in Switzerland or are Swiss citizens.   That leaves four who can be considered by visitors from the UK.

All four keep their office premises separate from the locations they use for the Assisted Deaths themselves.   In all cases below, only the office contacts have been shown.

DIGNITAS

The Dignitas office is located in the village of Forch.   It is 8 miles south east from the centre of Zurich and 23 miles from Zurich airport.   There is a direct tramway service from Zurich itself.   Their house they use for the Assisted Deaths is in a village nine miles away.

EX INTERNATIONAL

Ex International is located in Bern.   There are no direct flights from the UK to Bern.   Basel/Mulhouse is 68 miles away and Zurich is 90 miles away.   Also, Ex International (which does not publish its website in English) conducts many of its end-of-life services in the privacy of an individual’s own home – something clearly illegal in the UK.   Therefore most of its members tend to be from Germany, Austria or Switzerland itself.   For these reasons, our research into EX International has been less thorough than for the others.

LIFECIRCLE

The office address of Lifecircle is in Biel-Benken.   Their operational apartment is in Liestal.   Both are within the wider Basel area.   The two are about sixteen miles apart.   Liestal is about sixteen miles from Basel/Mulhouse airport and eight miles from Basel itself.

PEGASOS

The Pegasos office is in Basel itself.   Their operational apartment is in a small hamlet about 20 miles south of Basel.

Readers of this guide will also need to know about EXIT INTERNATIONAL and THE LAST RESORT.

EXIT International is not the same as EX International as mentioned above.   EXIT International does not now conduct any procedures in Switzerland but until June 2024 it did so, in close association with Pegasos.   The Last Resort is very closely related to EXIT International and is seeking to join the existing four AVD providers. However, it is basing its intended service upon use of the Sarco suicide pod. In late September 2024 it conducted one (successful) AVD using the Sarco but this resulted in the arrest of four people involved in organising the event. Until the Swiss legal position is clarified it would be unwise for the Last Resort to be considered as a valid choice alongside Dignitas or Pegasos. Meanwhile, EXIT International, founded by Dr Philip Nitschke, continues to publish The Peaceful Pill Handbook (see section 1) and its regular updates.