The first terminally ill child to be euthanized in the Netherlands under a controversial expansion of its assisted-dying laws was just a 1-year-old baby.
Dutch government officials first revealed in June that a child died by euthanasia last year, just saying it was the first assisted death of someone under 12 but without giving more detail, including the gender or ailment the tragic kid was dying from.
Now, a government report published has revealed the child was born abroad prematurely at 26 weeks, battled sepsis, and was diagnosed with “very extensive brain damage” at four-and-a-half months.
The child was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy before being diagnosed with infantile epileptic spasms syndrome — a very severe form of epilepsy — when just eight months old.
The epilepsy led to a “severe sleeping disorder,” and caused “coughing fits and the child had a swallowing disorder,” the report said.
“In the months prior to the child’s death, the seizures increased significantly when the child was eating,” the report, published by the Assessment Committee for Late Termination of Pregnancy and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children Aged 1 to 12 Years, said.
“The extensive brain damage severely affected the child’s functioning.
The child was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy before being diagnosed with infantile epileptic spasms syndrome — a very severe form of epilepsy — when just eight months old.
“The child had very severe developmental delay; at the age of almost two years, the child’s developmental age was estimated to be that of a six-week-old baby.
“The child had multiple, very severe disabilities, both mental and physical, and the prognosis was that the child would be dependent on support with all activities of daily living for the rest of their life.”
The baby was at “considerably higher risk” of developing breathing infections, and physicians ruled “there was deemed to be a very high probability of the child dying at a very young age due to complications.”
The Dutch government legalized euthanasia for severely ill children between the ages of 1 and 12 in 2024.
“Euthanasia is only allowed for patients whose unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement has a medical dimension,” the government says.
The report found the physician acted lawfully throughout the process.
