Mr. Racicot, you just said that you think medical assistance in dying is not end-of-life care.
The Quebec legislation has managed to include into a continuum of care a request to die stemming solely from the patient's desire and will, when the dying process has already begun and is irreversible. That should happen in a comprehensive context of palliative care.
Let's think of Cicely Saunders and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. Palliative care is comprehensive support for the dying. It is an alleviation of psychological and physiological suffering. That is care, and a patient in palliative care sometimes gets better. Palliative care can slow down the dying process, which is irreversible, and cause undesirable effects that may be related to pain medication.
Do you think that medical assistance in dying requested by a so-called comprehensive palliative care patient, in the best of cases, is not end-of-life care?