Groningen Protocol working well despite horror predictions
Nearily two decades ago...
It seems like such a long time.
The Groningen Protocol
Back in 2005, the Dutch Paediatric Association (NVK) ratified what is known as the Groningen Protocol. It was adopted into the nation's regulations in 2006. It allows for the termination of a neonate's life in very particular circumstances, via strict processes, and reported to the regulating authority, the LZA-LP.
Only the most grave, extremis circumstances are eligible, for example Herlitz type epidermolysis bullosa, an untreatable condition that causes extreme internal and external blistering, and then death.
Then in 2013, the Dutch medical association (KNMG) released a medical media statement saying that each year, some 650 of 175,000 Dutch neonates will die not long after birth.
VAD opponents become enraged
Opponents of voluntary assisted dying (VAD) immediately became enraged, joining dots that didn't exist.
"After a decade of legalized assisted dying in the Netherlands, it is estimated that as many as 1 in 3 deaths in the country are from euthanasia [itself false] – including 650 babies each year." — Anti-VAD correspondent
The flood of false associations continued at least until 2016. It was then that I conducted a scholarly, forensic and exhaustive investigation into the Groningen Protocol, its history and its use, as well as documenting the trail of religious institutions running the "650 babies" association story up the media flagpole. I published a paper on it.
What's happened since then?
For appropriate reference, in the nine years immediately preceding the Protocol, there were 22 cases of neonatal euthanasia in the Netherlands.
That's not per year. It's the total over nine years. An average of a bit over two a year. Not 650.
And since regulation?
The LZA-LP has just released its 2022-23 report on neonatal euthanasia cases, so we're now up to date. And the figures are:
2006: 1
2007: None
2008: None
2009: 1
2010: None
2011: None
2012: None
2013: None
2014: None
2015: None
2016: None
2017: 1
2018: None
2019: None
2020: None
2021: None
2022: None
2023: None
That is, in 9 years prior to the Groningen Protocol there were 22 cases, while in twice the period after its introduction (18 years), there were 3.
The findings show that shining a light on practice helps improve it. And that VAD, whose numbers have increased in the Netherlands, is not associated with a concomitant rise (but rather a major drop) in the small number of neonatal euthanasia cases.
I've yet to see any of the sources who spread "650 babies euthanised every year" misinformation publish a correction or refer to the LZA-LP annual reports. I wouldn't hold my breath, either.
More of the same
The "650 babies" caper is still doing the rounds.
Take Lord Alton of Liverpool for example. Last year he gave an address to a Catholic Social Thought forum, in which, after invoking Nazi Germany, he said:
"For those who would contend that infant euthanasia in the Netherlands is only permitted for rare and exceptional, cases, a Dutch commission on euthanasia argued in 2013 that as many as 650 infants should be eligible for the practice in the country each year." — Lord Aston of Liverpool
Actually, it was the Dutch medical association, not the Dutch euthanasia commission. It was 650 babies die, not "should be eligible for euthanasia". And the already small numbers have radically dropped, not risen.
But let's not let the facts get in the way of a good story.