Group of child psychiatrists want "not yet" approach to euthanasia for people under 25
A group of professors of child psychiatry is pushing for a “not yet” approach for young people under 25 who request euthanasia due to unbearable psychological suffering. They believe practitioners should focus on “delaying and enduring” because young people’s brains are not yet fully developed, and they are more susceptible to influence from peers and social media, the Volkskrant reports.
In an essay, the professors do not attach a “fixed age limit” to this “not yet” approach, but call it “usually appropriate until at least young adulthood (approximately 25).” They said that the wish to die must remain explicitly open for discussion during this “delaying and enduring” phase, adding that they do not “categorically” reject euthanasia for young people.
According to the professors, the brains of young people under 25 are still developing, which can affect their capacity to make informed decisions. Their condition is less “fixed” than that of older adults, they wrote. Young people are also more susceptible to influence from peer pressure and social media.
Euthanasia doctors and advocates are critical of the essay.
“For patients and their loved ones, this attitude of the profession is a disaster,” psychiatrist Kit Vanmechelen, who has performed euthanasia on young people on several occasions, said to the Volkskrant. “Many psychiatrists will hide behind this advice to avoid doing anything. It means yet another major delaying hurdle in an already difficult procedure with long waiting times. I expect suicide rates to rise further in the age group up to 25.”
Marcel Menne, chairman of the KEA foundation, which provides support to people who request euthanasia due to psychological suffering, is also critical. “This is reasoned entirely from the perspective of the psychiatric profession and not from the perspective of patients and their loved ones,” he told the newspaper. “I can imagine that you are more cautious with young people, but that is already stated in the guidelines for psychiatrists.”
Mennen lost his daughter to suicide when she was 31. “The question is whether you should make someone wait that long. Even if someone is only 22, that person may have already suffered severely psychologically for 10 years.”
In the Netherlands, euthanasia due to psychological suffering is rare among young people. In 2023, eight people under 25 received euthanasia for this reason. In 2024, it was 13, and seven in 2025. By comparison, over 10,000 people received euthanasia last year, mostly for physical reasons.
