Voluntary Assisted Dying Clinics in Switzerland
Clinics (Application forms are available on their websites.)
DIGNITAS
http://www.dignitas.ch/?lang=en
P.O. Box 17
8127 Forch
Telephone: +41 43 366 10 70
Fax: +41 43 366 10 79
Email: dignitas@dignitas.ch
Pegasos Swiss Association
https://pegasos-association.com/
Email: contact@pegasos-association.com
Online contact: https://pegasos-association.com/contact/
Association Life Circle
https://www.lifecircle.ch/en/?no_cache=1
Association lifecircle
Fichtlirain 16
4105 Biel-Benken
Switzerland
Email: mailto:mail@lifecircle.ch
Personal Accounts
We are sharing this comprehensive essay which so well details the problems of taking someone you love to Switerland for help in dying. Michelle did that for her mom and wrote about what she had to do to have her accepted at Dignitas. Switzerland is the only country that accepts foreigners for help in dying but the law there is strict and involves a lot of paperwork — plus at least $10,000. Michelle Kaptein Dignitas Story 2025
Christie, who is our board Secretary, also told the story of her mom’s VAD (Voluntary Assisted Dying) at the other Swiss organization we like to work with: Pegasos. Click Here
Both women are willing to talk to people who might be considering either organization. These accounts highlight the need for an expanded law in the U.S. so that people with early dementia can achieve a peaceful death while they still have capacity without leaving the country, accumulating all the required documents, and going to the expense and exhaustion of a long trip. Call us at 619-233-4418, or email us at HemlockSocietySanDiego.org, and we will put you in touch with Michelle or Christie.
You’ll be interested in some of our past and future programs this year many of which have to do with Dementia. Please help us continue our programs to bring you information about your choices by sending a generous donation, including Hemlock Society of San Diego in your estate plans, joining our organization or renewing your membership, and attending our monthly meetings.
–Faye Girsh, Founder and President of the Hemlock Society of San Diego
Requirements
Dignitas and LifeCircle require that you send them your medical records. The process from application to acceptance can take 3-4 months. To travel to Switzerland for an assisted death ends up costing approximately $10,000 when you take into account travel costs.
Other Information
View our 30th Anniversary conference (2017) presentation on LifeCircle and Dignitas.
Death ‘is not a medical process. It shouldn’t be made one’: Suicide pod stirs controversy among right-to-die proponents March 6, 2025The latest update in the controversial debate surrounding Dr. Philip Nitschke’s Sarco pod for Voluntary Assisted Dying. Dr. Nitschke is a world-renowned pioneer in the global Right to Die movement and has been a past guest speaker at our meetings. Click here to read the article Watch our interview with Dr. Nitschke, which took place with ...
Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die December 31, 2019Author Terry Pratchett, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2008, visits people with serious disease considering ending their lives on their own terms. He talks with close family members about their feelings. Terry and his assistant visit Dignitas in Switzerland and film the chosen death of Peter Smedley, with his loving wife by his side. His ...
My Time To Die: Nick Ferrari Follows Dementia Patient To Swiss Clinic July 2, 2019Leading Britain’s Conversation – July 2, 2019 Every 8 days a briton travels abroad for help to die. An interview with an early onset Alzheimer’s patient and his plans to go to a Swiss clinic to end his life.
Endgame April 28, 2019Endgame is an award-winning documentary following the lives of people contemplating a medically assisted suicide in Switzerland. Tt shows the speed and ease of the intravenous method of medically assisted suicide used at Lifecircle. By controlling a valve, the patient knowingly takes the final step themselves, clearly making this an act of assisted ...
Maia Calloway. From the Dying in the Americas Conference – March 22-24, 2018 March 22, 2018Sponsor: Final Exit Network A Colorado woman with progressive multiple sclerosis turns to Life Circle in Switzerland to end her life with peace and dignity.
Me Before You June 18, 2017A 2016 American-British film shot in beautiful British settings. A young handsome, wealthy man confined to a wheel chair, wants to end his life at Dignitas in Switzerland. Love develops with his caregiver; she is strenuously opposed to his hastening his death.
A Short Stay in Switzerland February 18, 2014A fictional account of a true story of a doctor going to Dignitas to die.