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Published on: February 11, 2017
[Why regulation of active life termination in children remains problematic]
Theo A Boer1,2
1Protestantse Theologische Universiteit, Groningen.
Insights
This commentary argues against regulating active life termination for children, citing the slippery slope to extending it to incompetent adults. Unregulated, rare cases of infant life termination by doctors should remain outside legal frameworks.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Pediatric Palliative Care
- End-of-Life Decision-Making
Background:
- A case involving a nine-year-old child with severe epilepsy, comorbidities, and developmental impairments led to the decision to withdraw nutrition and hydration.
- The authors of the case study advocate for a regulated procedure for active life termination based on this situation and parental experiences.
Abstract:
The case description regards a nine-years old patient who, as a consequence of a very serious epilepsy syndrome, several forms of comorbidity, severe developmental impairments, and the absence of meaningful contact with relatives, is felt to be in very serious suffering. Parents and physicians decide to end the child's life by withholding nutrition and hydration. Based on this case description and on the parents' experiences, its authors argue in favour of a stately regulated procedure for active life termination. In this comment I argue that the regulation of life termination without a patient request should remain a no-go area. If we allow life termination in children, there is no reason why we should not also allow such requests on behalf of incompetent patients such as handicapped adults and elderly patients with advanced dementia who have not issued an advance directive. Let the very rare cases in which a doctor sees no other option than to terminate an infant's life, remain in the realm of the non-regulated.
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