It’s an extremely sad reality and nobody wants to think about it, but it can’t be avoided.
Sometimes children get life-threateningly sick. Sometimes they get too sick to recover. And sometimes those illnesses can cause relentless and terrible suffering, sometimes even more than can be alleviated with palliative care.
Adults who are terminally ill but otherwise mentally competent have the option of choosing medically-assisted dying. But a child with the identical condition and prognosis is usually out of luck.
The Netherlands is poised to change that.
The Dutch government has approved a change to their legal framework that will allow medically assisted dying for children ages 12 and under, with regulations currently being drafted by Health Minister Hugo de Jong. These regulations are expected to come into effect by early 2021.