The age of the minor has not been reported.
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The country’s euthanasia age restrictions were lifted in 2014 following heated debate over the issue. In Netherlands, a child has to 12 years old or more to be considered for euthanasia. Under Belgian law, the commission has to be informed within four days of the patient being euthanased.
Wim Distelmans, who chairs Belgium’s Federal Control and Evaluation Committee on Euthanasia, said in an emailed statement that the first case was reported to his committee by a local doctor last week.
Many people, including church leaders and some paediatricians, questioned whether children would be able to make such a hard choice. Where is assisted dying permitted?
Only the Netherlands and Belgium permit euthanasia for patients under the age of 18.
In Switzerland, Germany, Japan and Canada, doctor-assisted suicide, where people take the final action themselves, is legal. The parent or guardian does not have a veto, but must be consulted.
Any request for euthanasia must be made by the minor, be studied by a team of doctors and an independent psychiatrist or psychologist and have parental consent. Additional scrutiny of the child’s competence is required, and suffering based on a psychiatric disorder is excluded.
To undergo euthanasia, the minor must also be in a “terminal medical situation with constant and unbearable physical pain which can not be assuaged and that will cause death in the short term”, the law says.
The most recent survey of doctors in the United Kingdom was in 2007-08.
Het Nieuwsblad reports that the euthanised child was Dutch and that the procedure was carried out in the north Belgian region of Flanders.
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What do the different terms mean?
