For the first time in the country’s history, the Netherlands has euthanized a terminally ill child under the age of 12.
The move comes two years after the country legalized the “termination of life” of seriously ill and untreatable children under 12.
Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans said the “incurably ill” child died last year. She didn’t specify their age or illness during her annual report presentation to the House of Representatives on Monday, according to NOS.
The topic sparked debate with many patient rights advocates, especially when it came to elderly patients with dementia, according to NOS.
For children under 12, parents must give their consent.
Historic Move
Many doctors told NOS back in 2024 that they wanted life termination to be an option for some of their patients. One reason is that they didn’t want the child to suffer anymore.
Eduard Verhagen, head of the Department of Pediatrics at the University Medical Center Groningen, spoke with NOS. He explained that the number of children that would fall under the “termination of life” policy is likely fewer than five per year.
Verhagen, an advocate for this regulation, said he believes these children have a right to a dignified end-of-life.
The Netherlands reiterated that terminating a child’s life will only be an option when it is the only reasonable alternative. Doctors are expected to review a six-point checklist before making the determination.
“It concerns children with a severe illness or condition for whom death is inevitable and is expected to occur in the near future,” the government stated in a letter to Parliament.
The practice is illegal in the United States.
Gallup reported 66 percent of Americans believe doctors should “be allowed by law to assist the patient to commit suicide” for terminal patients living in severe pain who request it.
In another survey, 71 percent of Americans agreed doctors should “be allowed by law to end the patient’s life by some painless means if the patient and his or her family request it.”
Prosecutors will now decide if the doctor in this case acted legally, according to Hermans.
