Dutch Toddler Is Youngest Known Euthanasia Case
Reviewers said the child’s suffering was unbearable and without improvement, and prosecutors declined to charge the doctor after the first case under the new rules.
- On December 31, 2025, a nearly 24-month-old child became the first minor euthanized under the Netherlands' 2024 law expansion after medical professionals determined severe brain damage and seizures caused intolerable suffering.
- Dutch legislation enacted in 2024 permits assisted dying for children aged 1 to 12 when suffering is unbearable with no prospect of improvement, requiring physicians to satisfy six statutory due-care criteria including independent medical consultation.
- After reviewing the case, the Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children concluded the physician acted with 'due care,' prompting the Public Prosecution Service to decline criminal charges against the doctor.
- Cardinal Wim Eijk, president of the Dutch bishops' conference, criticized the case, stating that mercy is 'often used nowadays to justify ethically questionable actions,' reflecting deepening ethical tensions over the expansion.
- Belgium, which legalized pediatric euthanasia in 2014, remains the only other nation permitting such procedures, though this Dutch case now establishes strict medical safeguards as an international legal precedent for terminal pediatric scenarios.
135 Articles
135 Articles
A one-year-old with severe disabilities was euthanized by doctors in the Netherlands, in a case officially analyzed after the entry into force of the framework which allows, under strict conditions, the cessation of life of children between one year and 12 years of age.
NEWS HEADLINES: Child “Nearly 24 Months Old” Euthanized In European Country – 100PercentFedUp.com – by Danielle
A new report from the Netherlands confirms that a baby nearly 24 months old was euthanized, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind under the country’s expanded euthanasia laws. A report from the committee that reviews all late-term abortions and medically assisted deaths of children confirmed the child was nearly two years old at the time of death. “The child was reportedly born prematurely at just 26 weeks, leading to serious comp…
A two-year-old child who suffered from many serious illnesses has become the first child in the Netherlands to receive active euthanasia.
A nearly 24-month-old child with severe brain damage, spastic cerebral palsy, severe visual impairment and difficult-to-control epilepsy was put to death in the Netherlands. The special commission, which examines cases of termination of life of newborns and children between 1 and 12 years old, has found that the doctor complied with the requirements for medical care. The case is the first publicly known in the Netherlands involving a child under…
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