One-year-old euthanised in the Netherlands

A child of “almost 24 months” has been the youngest person known to have died by euthanasia, a Dutch review board has revealed.

The toddler died at the end of last year, and had previously been reported as a child under the age of 12. The child’s gender has not been revealed, but the toddler had been suffering from severe brain damage, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, epileptic seizures, sepsis, and had difficulty breathing.

The report from the Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children said that the child had been born prematurely at 26 weeks. “The child had very severe developmental delay; at the age of almost two years, the child’s developmental age was estimated to be that of a six-week-old baby,” the report noted, adding that every facet of ‘being human’ was “severely affected”.

The Netherlands was the first country to legalise assisted suicide in 2002. Euthanasia for children aged one to twelve years old with an incurable illness became legal two years ago. Previously it had only been an option for newborns, or for children over the age of 12.

Under the Dutch law, parents must be consulted and the child must be in unbearable suffering with no hope of recovery. Before the change in the law euthanasia was not offered to children under 12 because they were considered unable to make their own decisions. Before this case, the youngest reported case of euthanasia involving a child was a nine-year-old in Belgium, which introduced euthanasia for children in 2014.

The doctor who carried out the euthanasia consulted with other doctors for a second opinion. “Those physicians established that at that time the child was not continuously suffering unbearably,” the report stated. “The epilepsy caused a great deal of discomfort, but the epileptic seizures were not continuous. Their conclusion was that there were still reasonable alternatives, such as palliative options and other medications that could possibly result in better control of the epileptic seizures.”

The doctor, however, sought another opinion from a doctor who concluded that ending the child’s life was justified and the decision was made to end their life by gradual sedation with “coma-inducing substances”. The report concluded that in the committee’s opinion the doctor made the correct decision.