A two-year-old child in the Netherlands died by euthanasia, marking the first time the procedure was carried out on a young child under the changed law, the Daily Mail reported. The news was first reported earlier this year in June, but at the time, the child's age, or any other details, was not revealed. Now, reports have confirmed the child was nearly 24 months old and had been suffering from severe medical conditions. The details came to light after an official review committee examined the circumstances and ruled that the doctors followed standard procedures and acted within the law.
In June, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans disclosed the case in a letter to parliament and said that the "incurably ill" child died at the end of 2025.
The case was then reviewed by a medical committee that interviewed the doctors who were involved.
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A report by the Committee for Late-Term Abortion and Termination of Life in Newborns and Children shared details of the case.
According to official medical reports, the child was born prematurely at 26 weeks and suffered from severe, non-treatable conditions, including cerebral palsy, severe visual impairment, and medication-resistant epilepsy. The child also experienced ongoing fluid buildup in the lungs, which made breathing and swallowing extremely difficult.
The attending physician and the parents agreed that the child faced unbearable suffering with no chance of recovery.
"Those physicians established that at that time the child was not continuously suffering unbearably," the document reads, as quoted in the report.
"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."
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Doctors consulted independent specialists before moving forward. While initial second opinions suggested alternative palliative measures to control seizures, a third medical expert confirmed that there was no other option to treat the child's suffering.
After all the assessments, the committee concluded that the doctor made the correct assessment. "All facets of 'being human' - regarding motor skills, behaviour, and personality - were severely impaired and were not going to improve," the committee said.
"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."
Euthanasia law in the Netherlands
Assisted dying was legal for adults and teenagers over the age, and a separate regulation allowed for life-ending procedures for infants under one year old under strict medical criteria. But in April 2024, the government extended these regulations to include terminally ill children between the ages of 1 and 12.
The Netherlands remains one of only a few countries that allow euthanasia for young children; Belgium has permitted it since 2014. "Euthanasia is only allowed for patients whose unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement has a medical dimension," the government states.
"This can be the case with somatic diseases such as cancer or cardiovascular disease, but also with psychiatric disorders, dementia or multiple geriatric syndromes."
