‘Let my husband die in dignity’: ALS sufferer’s wife’s petitions for euthanasia

The wife of ALS sufferer Joe Magro has launched an online petition, urging MPs to legalise euthanasia so that her husband can die in dignity. 

"I am writing on Joe's behalf as, due to his condition, he cannot write, just as he is unable to perform many other tasks that he used to perform on a daily basis," Marlene Magro wrote. "Both myself and our children, as well as other family members of ours, understand Joe, because no one would like to end up in a similar situation. 

Joe Magro, 56, was diagnosed with ALS, a deadly neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, some 15  months ago. In an interview with MaltaToday in February, he said that he will commit suicide if his position degenerates to a point where he cannot live life in dignity. This prompted government whip Godfrey Farrugia to place a debate on euthanasia on the agenda of parliament's family affairs committee, which he chairs.

READ [WATCH] ALS sufferer’s plea for debate on assisted suicide: ‘I don’t want to live in indignity’

"You have no right to keep me alive at all costs," Magro told MPs on the committee earlier this month. "If you don't want to help me, then don't. But why shouldn't someone willing to assist me not be allowed to?"

In her petition, Marlene Magro said that her husband's threat to commit suicide scared her, as she "would have a hard time living with the knowledge that Joe could have lived longer with everyone around him and that his death would have taken place in dignity and within his family setting".

"With the introduction of a law on assisted death, Joe will be able to live peacefully for a while longer," she said.

"I thus repeat our call upon Maltese parliamentarians to adopt a law on assisted death so that Joe will put his mind at rest with the knowledge that should he need this sort of assistance, he will find it."

One of the first voices to throw his hat in the ring was that of Michael Briguglio, sociologist and Sliema councillor for Alternattiva Demokratika.

“My view on this matter is that rights, responsibilities and ethics are equivalent for the person’s wellbeing. I am against an industry of death but I am for a person’s dignity and care. I empathize with persons in this situation and agree with the proposal.”

Briguglio said Parliament should discuss the issue in a sober manner and added that evidence-based policy required proper research, consultation, dialogue between different views and sensible compromise “where possible.”

Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Gozo bishop Mario Grech said on Monday that euthanasia could never be in a person's best interest.
“The autonomy enjoyed by every human being is not absolute or unlimited. The protection of human life, in particular when this is helpless and vulnerable, is an ethical and legal principle that goes beyond the principle of autonomy.”

A study conducted in 2013 among Maltese doctors found that over 90% of doctors say they are against euthanasia but 50% agree with hastening death by intensifying analgesia. 11.9% of the 356 doctors polled by researchers said they had received a request for euthanasia from patients.

The Labour and Nationalist parties have so far refused to take a stand on euthanasia, while green party Alternattiva Demokratika has vehemently opposed its legislation.