For people outside the Netherlands, the most surprising thing about legally tolerated non-voluntary euthanasia of infants is that it happens at all. But for Dutch doctors, the surprise is that reports of it are far lower than the quota.
It was expected that 15–20 cases would be reported. To date, however, only one case has surfaced. There appear to be several reasons. First of all, the authorities may have over-estimated the number of infant deaths based on deficient data from previous years. Some abortions had also been wrongly reported as infant euthanasia. Improved ultrasound technology now allows doctors to abort defective babies before birth, making euthanasia unnecessary. There has been an increase in the use of “terminal sedation,” which is not regarded as euthanasia, even if it causes the death of the patient. “It is likely that at least some cases of active ending of life occurred during the past years,” the authors admit. So why have the doctors kept it quiet? BioEdge, study abstract
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