Euthanasia is to be extended to primary school-age children in the Netherlands, the Dutch government has announced.
Health Minister Ernst Kuipers said that children aged five to 12 years can obtain lethal injections if “life termination is the only viable option to end the child’s hopeless and unbearable suffering”.
The country already allows the euthanasia of gravely ill newborn children under the infamous Groningen Protocol.
According to the NLTimes, Mr Kuipers said he expects the regulations to be implemented within the year.
He said he also expected up to 10 primary school-age children a year to die by lethal injection as a result.
The regulations will work by exempting doctors from prosecution if they perform an approved child euthanasia.