Some 200 medical professionals in Scotland have expressed “great concern” over a proposed bill to provide assisted suicide to the terminally ill.

Signatories to the letter to Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, include a former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, David Galloway, and a palliative medicine expert Professor Marie Fallon.

The letter says the shift from preserving life to taking life is enormous and should not be minimised. “The prohibition of killing is present in almost all civilised societies due the immeasurable worth of every human life.

“Everyone has a right to life under Article 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998 such that no one should be deprived of that life intentionally. Some patients may never consider assisted suicide unless it was suggested to them. The cruel irony of this path is that legislation introduced with the good intention of enhancing patient choice will diminish the choices of the most vulnerable”.

The health care professionals add that they have a legal duty of care for the safety and wellbeing of their patients and they state that “will not take patients’ lives – even if they ask us to”.