Killing of Babies Tests Dutch Law

Two Dutch doctors who killed gravely ill newborns face criminal trial in the Netherlands in a test case of liberal Dutch euthanasia policy, the Justice Ministry said Thursday.

One doctor has admitted killing a 3-day-old severely handicapped girl at her parents’ request. Her brain was only partly developed, she had spina bifida and partial paralysis, her limbs were malformed, and she faced a life of pain.

Justice Minister Winnie Sorgdrager ordered the prosecutions to determine how the law applies to cases when a doctor ends the life of a person who is unable to ask for death. The law requires doctors to show that a patient was terminally ill, in unbearable suffering and had repeatedly asked to die.