Netherlands reports first assisted suicide of a child under 12

A child under the age of 12 was euthanized in the Netherlands late last year, according to a government report made public Monday. The child was terminally ill, according to Dutch authorities. No other details were included in the report; the child’s age, sex, and medical condition were unclear. The child’s death was the first reported to have occurred under a 2024 expansion of the Netherlands’ euthanasia law.

The country in 2024 legalized physician-assisted death for children aged 1 to 12 who are terminally ill and in constant, severe pain. The child’s parents, treating physician, and an independent doctor—as well as the child, if possible—must consent to euthanasia to meet the law’s requirements, according to the report. After the adults end the child’s life, a public prosecutor is required to present a coroner’s report to a special committee, which evaluates whether the physician involved administered euthanasia “with due care,” according to the report. If the committee finds the physician didn’t comply with the law’s standards, the prosecutor commences a criminal case, under the process prescribed by the law.

Before 2024, the Netherlands’ euthanasia law had already applied to older terminally ill people as well as newborns with serious disorders. One newborn baby was euthanized in 2017, according to the report. Before 2024, children aged one to 12 could legally die of hunger and thirst while sedated, according to the report.

Dig deeper: Listen to Myrna Brown’s report on New York doctors offering Christian healthcare amid changing state rules on assisted suicide and transgender procedures.