‘Children to be given right to die’

Amsterdam

Taking a step further, Dutch Paediatric Association in Netherlands have called for terminally ill young children to be given the right to die and urged to scrap the current age limit of 12 years. The Netherlands is one of few countries in the world where euthanasia is permitted for terminally ill patients.

Under current laws, only those aged 12 and over can ask to die. “We feel that an arbitrary age limit such as 12 should be changed,” said Eduard Verhagen, professor of paediatrics at Groningen University, and a member of the association’s ethics committee.

“Each child's ability to ask to die should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”

Although euthanasia is allowed in the Netherlands, it is subject to strict controls. Doctors can only claim immunity from prosecution if a series of stringent conditions are fulfilled.

The patient’s suffering must be unbearable, with no prospect of improvement, and they must persistently ask to die over a course of time.

Under the current rules, children aged between 12 and 16 must also have parental approval, while euthanaisa is banned for those under 12.

“If a child under 12 satisfies the same conditions, paediatricians are currently powerless. It's time to address this problem,” said Prof Verhagen.

Five children have been euthanised in the Netherlands since it became legal in 2002, Prof Verhagen said.

One was 12 years old, while the other four were aged between 16 and 17.

A change in the law would bring the Netherlands into line with its neighbour Belgium, which last year became the first country in the world to allow euthanasia for young children

Under the Belgian law, children can ask to die if they are “in a hopeless medical situation of constant and unbearable suffering that cannot be eased and which will cause death in the short-term”.

In France, President Francois Hollande has stated his personal support for the decriminalisation of voluntary euthanasia, but it remains illegal.