[4] According to its authors, the Groningen Protocol was developed to assist with the decision-making process when considering actively ending the life of a newborn, by providing the information required to assess the situation within a legal and medical framework.
[6] The protocol, drawn up after extensive consultation between physicians, lawyers, parents and the Prosecution Office, offers procedures and guidelines to achieve the correct decision and performance.
There, the medical examiner sends the report only to the regional review committee, which alerts the district attorney only if it judges that the physician acted improperly.
[4] In April 2023 the Dutch parliament released a statement that an arrangement will be introduced for the termination of life of seriously ill and untreatable children aged 1 to 12.
[7] The protocol is controversial and has been attacked by anti-euthanasia campaigner Wesley J. Smith,[9] Senior Fellow at the conservative think tank Discovery Institute, who described it as an attempt to legalize infanticide.
[14] Hilde Lindemann and Marian Verkerk said that the policy must be evaluated in the context of Dutch culture and medicine,[15] but Eric Kodish has harshly criticized the protocol and its premises in an article published in The Lancet.