In the Netherlands, euthanasia was performed for the first time on a child under the age of 12

In the Netherlands, doctors have, for the first time, taken advantage of expanded legal provisions to perform euthanasia on a patient under the age of 12. This was officially announced by the country’s Minister of Health, Sophie Hermans, during the presentation of the special committee’s annual report in parliament. 

Official sources have not disclosed the patient’s age, diagnosis, or other details for reasons of strict confidentiality, noting only that the child had a severe, incurable illness. Legislative changes allowing assisted dying for children aged 1 to 12 with terminal illnesses took effect two years ago. Previously, this approach was permitted exclusively for infants under one year of age under a special protocol, as well as for adolescents aged 12 and older and adults.

The procedure is governed by strict rules that require confirmation of the patient’s unbearable physical suffering with no prospect of improvement. For a final decision to be made, the full consent of the parents or legal guardians is mandatory, and a medical committee must verify that doctors have thoroughly taken the child’s own wishes into account. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to fully legalize euthanasia in 2002, provided that the patient voluntarily requests it and it is confirmed that recovery is impossible.

The Daily Mail reports on this.

As a reminder, in Finland, an initiative to legalize euthanasia gathered enough signatures in support, after which the parliament is required to consider it.

The Portuguese Parliament has passed a law allowing euthanasia for people who are terminally ill and experiencing unbearable suffering.

The District Court of The Hague dismissed a lawsuit filed by a citizens’ initiative seeking to overturn the ban on assisted suicide—the plaintiffs argued that the ban violates their right to determine when their lives end.