A TWO-YEAR-OLD child has been euthanised after the Dutch government cut its age limit for assisted dying.
The toddler was nearly 24 months old and suffering from severe medical conditions, a review board in the Netherlands revealed.
It was previously known that the life of a child under 12 had been ended under the policy.
But an investigation by the Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children has now revealed that said child was a toddler.
It’s the first known case of a child under 12, who was not an infant, undergoing assisted death.
The board concluded that the doctor who euthanised the two-year-old had done so with due care.
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Born prematurely at 26 weeks, the toddler suffered severe brain damage, cerebral palsy and visual impairment.
The gender of the toddler was not released.
They struggled to breathe because of mucus in their lungs and suffered from epileptic seizures which did not respond to medication.
The doctor sought a second opinion from independent doctors after determining their suffering could not be helped by medical care.
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A report stated: “Those physicians established that at that time the child was not continuously suffering unbearably.”
“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 then got another second opinion from a physician who found that “the toddler’s ‘unbearable suffering was clearly visible”.
That doctor agreed that the requirements to end a child’s life through euthanasia had been met.
The Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children agreed with the decision.
It stated: “All facets of ‘being human’ – regarding motor skills, behavior, and personality – were severely impaired and were not going to improve.
“Despite all medical and non-medical interventions, the parents and the doctor observed no improvement in the child’s condition and were convinced that the child was suffering unbearably and without prospect of relief.”
The Netherlands legalised assisted dying for terminally ill children under 12 two years ago.
Before the law change, only newborns and those over 12 could be euthanised.
Parents have to be consulted and the child must be suffering unbearably for the euthanasia to go ahead.
Doctors must agree that there is no chance of recovery.
The Netherlands first legalised assisted dying for those with incurable illnesses in 2002.
Previously it emerged that in in 2016 and 2017 two children aged 9 and 11 had been euthanised in Belgium by lethal injection. Belgium is the only other country which allows euthanasia for young children.
The 9-year-old had a brain tumour and 11-year-old cystic fibrosis and both were ruled to have been enduring ‘unbearable suffering’.