Assisted Suicide for Children

This article explores the ethical dilemma of assisted suicide for children, discussing the arguments for and against it. It examines the current practices and statistics in different countries. The article also highlights the challenges faced by medical practitioners in carrying out euthanasia for children.

Running Head: ASSISTED SUICIDE FOR CHILDREN
Assisted suicide for children
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Assisted suicide for children
Introduction
The right to euthanasia is a vital subject which concerns individuals all over the globe.
The arguments have been based on whether an individual who is about to die has the right to die
with an assistance of medical practitioner (Cook, 2019). A group of people are against euthanasia
due to moral as well as religious reasons while others have argued for it due to their respect and
compassion for the dying. Moreover, medical practitioners are also divided on the issue; they
differ where they put the line that distinguish relief from the killing and dying. For different
people the major problem with the euthanasia is in competence of the critically ill. Several
critically ill individuals who are mostly on their final phase of their lives have normally given
request to the medical physicians to aid them in undertaking active assisted suicide. The debates
about child assisted suicide have been explored in many countries of the world. one of the
countries that has openly debated and practiced child assisted suicide in Belgium which also
become the first country to legalize assisted suicide for children of any age (Cohen-Almagor,
2018).
However, there is the ethical dilemma in carrying out physician assisted suicide as most
children have not reached the age of consent in which they can agree to euthanasia. The case has
proven to be difficult for medical practitioners who have to undertake euthanasia only if the
child’s prognosis and diagnosis are confirmed and certain by an independent medical practitioner
and there is sufficient evidence of hopeless as well as unbearable pain and suffering and both
parents to consent to the assisted suicide and that the procedures for undertaking the process
follows medical standards and are documented (Cuman & Gastmans, 2017). Assisted suicide in
children also contravenes the oldest principle in medicine which clearly states that do no harm to

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patients; the principle confers the medical practitioner’s duty to prevent instead of causing
distress. Furthermore, in the case of treating children medical practitioners are particularly
mindful of this duty.
Agreeing or accepting assisted suicide is acknowledging that some individuals are
beyond any medical aid, for whom ending their lives is the only prudent option. There has been
an increase in the cases of euthanasia in the world. For instance, the journal of internal medicine
by the American Medicine Association reports that one in every thirty, that is, 3.3% of deaths in
Netherlands were by assisted suicide in 2013. This number was three times higher than the
number in 2002. in Belgium, Flanders, one in every twenty-four, that is, 4.5% of the deaths were
by assisted euthanasia in 2013. The number was 1.9 times higher than in 2007 (Forbes, 2018).
Below is a statistical trend of cases of assisted suicide in the United States from 1998 to 2017.
Retrieved from https://euthanasia.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006992

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Conclusion
The statistics on assisted suicide is alarming and will continue to rise. There have been
arguments that assisted suicide is helping the critically ill patients to ease their sufferings and
pain while others argue that no man has the right to ends another mans life. Euthanasia in
children should not be accepted be accepted since these children have not reached the age of
consent.

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References
Cohen-Almagor, R. (2018). Should the Euthanasia Act in Belgium Include Minors? Perspectives
in Biology & Medicine, 61(2), 230–248. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2018.0039
Cook, M. (2019). The other country where euthanasia for children is legal--Colombia: The long
process of legalisation began in 1997. National Right to Life News, 22. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=135409922&site=ehost-live
Cuman, G., & Gastmans, C. (2017). Minor and euthanasia: a systematic review of argument-
based ethics literature. European Journal of Pediatrics, 176(7), 837–847. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-017-2934-8
Forbes, S. (2018). Time to Terminate: “Assisted Dying.” Forbes, 201(7), 17. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=bth&AN=131523200&site=ehost-live