Netherlands Carries Out First Euthanasia of Child Under 12 Under 2024 Law

The Netherlands carried out its first euthanasia of a child under the age of 12 since legislation allowing the procedure for incurably ill children between one and 12 took effect two years ago, GB News reported. Health minister Sophie Hermans disclosed the case to parliament in a letter, stating that the unnamed child was terminally ill and that the procedure occurred near the end of last year.

A specialist committee overseeing the 2024 law reviewed the circumstances and interviewed the physician who administered the lethal injection.

Prosecutors will now decide whether the medical professional met all legal requirements, with the committee's full report expected in the coming days. The law requires parental consent, evidence of intolerable suffering, and confirmation of no prospect of recovery. It applies only to children facing death in the immediate future whose pain and distress cannot be managed by other means.

Authorities had projected five to ten such cases each year when the measure was introduced. Before the 2024 change, euthanasia for children was limited to infants and those aged 12 and older. The Netherlands became the first country to legalize euthanasia for adults with incurable conditions causing unbearable suffering in 2002.

Belgium extended similar provisions to children of any age in 2014.