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Evidence and Argument

Dominic Wilkinson, MBBS, MBioeth

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(10):958-959.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

In this issue of Archives, Verhagen et al¹ provide thorough and thought-provoking insight into end-of-life decision making for newborns in the Netherlands. The authors retrospectively reviewed the case histories of 98% of all infants who died in the 10 tertiary Dutch neonatal units during a 1-year period. They interviewed pediatricians involved in all cases in which end-of-life decisions appeared to be influenced by considerations other than straightforward futility. The results of the study have some relevance for debates about Dutch end-of-life practices, particularly the controversial protocol for active euthanasia in newborns, the Groningen Protocol.^2-3

Verhagen et al document a single case of active euthanasia in the period of their study in a newborn with type II osteogenesis imperfecta. While euthanasia in newborns in the Netherlands has been reported in several previous studies,^{2, 4-5} the new data suggest that it may be less common than previously assumed.¹ . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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End-of-Life Decisions in Dutch Neonatal Intensive Care Units
A. A. Eduard Verhagen, Jozef H. H. M. Dorscheidt, Bernadette Engels, Joep H. Hubben, and Pieter J. Sauer
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(10):895-901.
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