ALS sufferer Joe Magro will make his case for the legalisation of euthanasia when he speaks in front of Parliament’s Family Affairs Committee this evening.

Mr Magro will tell MPs of his yearning to live in dignity and which he fears will be taken away from him when his neurodegenerative disease leaves him totally paralysed.

“I feel my life will lack dignity if I am totally paralysed and dependent on others, which is why I would like to have the possibility to die in a legal way,” Mr Magro told the Times of Malta.

Euthanasia is illegal but 12 per cent of doctors surveyed recently said they had received requests for assisted suicide from their patients.

Mr Magro’s request, to be heard by MPs, was taken up by Family Affairs Committee chairman Godfrey Farrugia.

“This is possibly the first time that a parliamentary committee has been convened to hear the request of an individual and not a representative organisation,” Dr Farrugia said.

But Dr Farrugia pledged the debate will not stop with this evening’s sitting. He intends convening a joint meeting of Parliament’s health, family and social affairs committees over the coming months to debate ethically contentious issues like euthanasia and the morning after pill.

“The debate will not end with this one sitting, also because there are various issues that require debate such as the impact of euthanasia on relatives,” Dr Farrugia said.