Belgian MPs are on the verge of legalising euthanasia for children and dementia sufferers.

Euthanasia on the grounds of “unbearable psychological or physical suffering” has been legal for those aged 18 and over in Belgium since 2002.

Now, new legislation could extend euthanasia to children, those suffering from dementia and other “diseases of the brain”, according to a report in the International Business Times.

Critics say the move is just the next phase in what they call “a culture of death.”

Polls show that two-thirds of Belgians favor the new euthanasia bill, with one poll suggesting that three quarters of Belgians believe it would be acceptable for parents to euthanise their sick children without the child’s consent.

“The child does not have the maturity to get married or to buy alcohol or to buy cigarettes if he is 14. Now we are saying that because he is suffering, he might have the possibility to ask for euthanasia,” Carine Boucher, with the European Center for Bio-ethics in Brussels, said.

Michel De Keukelaere, a law student and the founder of the March for Life in Brussels said, “Children never choose to die. I don’t believe a child under 18 who is sick and who is ill wants to die.”

“Who will give the suggestion to the child that one of the solutions is euthanasia?” Boucher asked. “A child doesn’t know what euthanasia is. A child doesn’t know what death is.”

Under the proposed legislation, euthanasia for children would be legal once the child had requested it and the parents had given their consent.

Belgium had a record number of 1,432 cases of euthanasia in 2012, up 25pc from the previous year.

In Belgium, any adult who is covered by medical insurance and treated by a doctor can choose to terminate their own lives as long as two physicians agree to sign off on the request.

Belgian medical mercy killing hit the headlines at the beginning of October when a transsexual man was granted legal euthanasia on the grounds of “unbearable psychological suffering”.

Nathan, born Nancy, Verheist, wanted to die after unsuccessful sex change operations. Verheist had mastectomy and surgery to construct a penis in 2012, but he said that “none of these operations worked as desired”.

Wim Distelmans, who carried out the euthanasia, is the same doctor who last year gave lethal injections to congenitally deaf twins who were scared that they were going blind. Marc and Eddy Verbessem, aged 45, could only communicate with special sign language understood by each other and their immediate family.

Medically assisted euthanasia is legal in three European countries – the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. In Holland, the age limit is set at 16.

Meanwhile, a new report from Canada cites international evidence showing that once assisted suicide or euthanasia are legalised, the once-selective criteria expand to include more and more people.

The report, No Second Chances, published by the Institute for Marriage and Family in Canada shows that, in Oregon, where assisted suicide was legalised in 1997, the number of deaths by assisted suicide has doubled since 2005. Prescriptions for a poisonous cocktail to kill patients have grown by 76pc over the same period.

In Washington, where assisted suicide was legalised in 2009, between 2009 and 2012, the number of deaths by assisted suicide grew 130pc.

In the Netherlands, the number of deaths by euthanasia has increased by 64pc between 2005 and 2010.