“The shift from preserving life to taking life is enormous and should not be minimized. It’s impossible for any government to draft assisted suicide laws which include legal protection from future extension and expansion of those laws.

“Any change would threaten society’s ability to safeguard vulnerable patients from abuse, it would undermine the trust the public places in physicians, and it would send a clear message to our frail, elderly and disabled patients about the value that society places on them as people.

“Far from one person’s decision affecting no one else, it affects us all. Some patients may never consider assisted suicide unless it is 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."

“We would not take patients’ lives – even if they asked us to – but for the sake of us all and for future generation, we ask that the law remain unchanged.”