17-YEAR-OLD CHOSE TO DIE
Shock as first minor opts for euthanasia in country
A TERMINALLY ill child has been helped to die in the youngest-known case of euthanasia.
The minor, 17, is the first to die this way since age barriers were lifted in Belgium, it was confirmed yesterday.
Wim Distelmans, head of the federal euthanasia commission, said the death had been reported to his committee by a local doctor last week.
He said: “Fortunately there are very few children considered for euthanasia, but that doesn’t mean we should refuse them the right to a dignified death.”
But UK campaigners were horrified. Alistair Thompson, of Care Not Killing alliance, said: “A child may not be able to drink, vote or join the armed forces, but they may decide to inject barbiturates into themselves to end their life.
“I hope it reinforces why Parliament, again and again, rejected changing the law.” Last year British MPs voted against legalising assisted suicide, where patients take the final action. Euthanasia is also a crime but was made legal in Belgium in 2002, usually involving lethal injection. Belgium extended the law in 2014 to under-18s facing “unbearable physical suffering” – the only country to do so.
Belgian MP Jean-Jacques De Gucht said the minor, from the Flemish region, was in the “final stages” of illness. He added: “It’s important society doesn’t neglect people in such pain.”