Eduard Verhagen

Who is Eduard Verhagen?

Eduard Verhagen is an attorney and the medical director of the department of pediatrics at the University Medical Center Groningen. He is mainly known for his involvement in infant euthanasia in the Netherlands.

Euthanasia is legal for patients over the age of 12 in the Netherlands. Verhagen, who studied both law and medicine, worked out a protocol with prosecutors and doctors in 2002 for infant euthanasia cases. This Groningen Protocol requires that the parents and teams of physicians and social workers agree that further treatment is futile. After a waiting period of several days, during which the parents can think over the decision and say goodbye, euthanasia is performed. The case records are subsequently turned over to the prosecutor's office. If this protocol is followed, prosecutors will refrain from pressing charges. In July 2005, this protocol was introduced nationwide in the Netherlands.