The Dutch system designed to protect from prosecution doctors who are involved in the mercy killing of severely ill newborn babies who are judged to be suffering unbearably and hopelessly seems to be struggling to gain professional acceptance. The first case is only now being considered, more than two years after the system’s introduction. Research had estimated there should be 15 to 20 such cases a year (New England Journal of Medicine 2005;352:959-62). MPs learnt through parliamentary questions on 18 November that the first report of the decision to end the life of a severely ill baby had been filed in the Netherlands. No more details have been released. The expert committee set up to monitor the system has 12 weeks to decide if the doctor involved followed the correct protocol and whether it should recommend that he or she is not prosecuted.
The High Court has granted a Dublin maternity hospital orders allowing it to perform, if required, an emergency blood transfusion to the unborn child of a Jehovah's Witnesses couple who is at risk of being delivered prematurely. Today the court heard the child's mother, who is approximately 26 weeks pregnant, presented with a spontaneous premature ruptured membrane. Doctors at the hospital treating the woman, who cannot be identified by order of the court, say they can't predict exactly when the child will be delivered but that the likelihood of a premature birth is high. They claim in the event the child is born in the next four to five weeks the infant "most likely will require a transfusion of blood or blood related products in order to safeguard the child's life and prevent it from sustaining serious injury." However the parents, for religious reasons, have refused to give their consent to allow the hospital administer a transfusion to the child.