First child to be allowed to die by assisted suicide

A 17-YeAr-OLD has become the youngest person to be helped to commit suicide, re-igniting the ethical row over euthanasia legislation.

The unnamed teenager was terminally-ill, and was given permission to end their life after repeatedly asking to die.

But campaign groups, church leaders and paediatricians have questioned whether children are able to make such a difficult choice – and warned it heralded a slippery slope in deciding who doctors can help die.

The case in Belgium is thought to be the first time the state has approved a request to die by someone under 18. It comes after the country lifted age restrictions on euthanasia two years ago, making it the only country that permits assisted suicide regardless of age.

The Netherlands also allows euthanasia for minors, but they must be over 12. All euthanasia is illegal in Britain.

Belgian law allows the death of children in a ‘hopeless medical situation of constant and unbearable suffering that cannot be eased and which will cause death in the short term’.

But to have their request granted, a minor must be capable of making decisions, in the final stages of terminal illness and have permission from their parents. They must also have made repeated requests to die.

Officials from Belgium’s federal euthanasia commission would not confirm the child’s name and sex or details of the death – which took place in the Flanders region, and was reported last week – but it is likely a lethal injection was used. Commission head Wim Distelmans said the teenager was ‘suffering unbearable physical pain’ and was ‘nearly 18’. ‘Fortunately there are very few children who are considered [for euthanasia] but that does not mean we should refuse them the right to a dignified death,’ he told the het Nieuwsblad newspaper.

The procedure was condemned by the UK-based Care Not Killing campaign group. ‘It is a truly shocking case,’ said spokesman Alistair Thompson.

‘Doctors and healthcare professionals are meant to protect patients. The moment you say they can in certain circumstances kill their patients it is always going to be debatable about exactly how old or mentally competent they must be.’

Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002, and lifted its age restrictions in 2014. The country saw 2,021 reported cases last year – an eight-fold increase since 2002, according to the commission.

Senator Jean-Jacques De Gucht said: ‘It gives me some comfort to know that now there is a choice out there for children in the final terminal stages.’