Excerpt:
The doctor who performed the Netherlands’ first case of euthanasia on a child under 12 did so with due care, the supervising committee concluded after investigating. The patient, a child of nearly 2 years who suffered from several severe medical conditions, died at the end of 2025.
Yeah we came full circle. Dutchies are certainly pushing boundaries in areas I wish we left unexplored.
I disagree. I think it’s valuable and important to come up with reasonable and humane policies that protect the sanctity of life, while also ensuring we don’t cause needless suffering. There is a boundary somewhere and whether or not you’re comfortable with that, some people will have to deal with being close to it.
In this particular case a hands off approach would have ended suffering all on its own and active medical intervention would have kept it going. Better to make the end as humane as is even possible anymore.
Although it’s true that this poor soul was not in a position to consent to death, the corollary is they were not in a position to consent to a life of mostly suffering either.
I don’t think people want this. Nobody sees an article like this and is like, “hell yeah, they killed a kid!”
This is a very complex, very difficult subject