Colleen Carroll Campbell on Infant Euthanasia on National Review Online

Colleen Carroll Campbell on Infant Euthanasia on National Review Online: "When little Chanou was born in 2000 with a rare and painful illness that leads to abnormal bone development, doctors gave the Dutch infant less than three years to live. As it turns out, she only had seven months. "

In the Netherlands euthanasia has been practiced for sometime now. As the introductory quote implies, the child had maybe three years to live, but only got seven thanks(?) to the practice euthanasia.

The Netherlands according to Colleen Campbell uses what is known as "The Groningen Protocol," in judging whether an individual should be euthanized or not. For instance according to the "protocol," a "'newborn can be euthanized if his diagnosis and prognosis are “certain,” his suffering is “hopeless and unbearable,” and his quality of life is “very poor,” according to the child’s parents and “at least one independent doctor.”' As the author points out, these are very subjective criteria for a decision of this magnitued.

In Americans thinking that this is not something we need to worry about, the author cites an example in which, Haleigh Poutre, a 12 year old girl from MA had been severely beaten by her stepfather. She had been in the hospital for eight days "when her state custodians began fighting for the right to remove her ventilator and feeding tube. Doctors had diagnosed her condition as a persistent vegetative state, but Haleigh recovered before they could euthanize her."