Thank you for that really great question.
I have a dream that comprehensive palliative care will one day be available Canada-wide, not just in Quebec, and therefore, all the professionals I just mentioned will be present. As Dr. Downar was saying, the physician can provide care in the home or over the telephone, but we need comprehensive teams so that patients at the end of life have access to medical and nursing care as well as the full range of other professional care they need. I want to make it clear that access to this care is critical whether or not cancer is involved, because non-cancer diseases are always overlooked and they account for half of deaths. Everyone should have access to that care, both those who need more and those who need less.
I'd like to reiterate that MAiD is a complement to good palliative care, not a continuum of care. Also, I believe that more people will request MAiD. We have an average of 3.4% medically assisted deaths in Quebec. So that has gone up and I think it will continue to go up. Quebec is ahead of several Canadian provinces in that respect. I'm not making any value judgements because I feel the most important thing is that we respond to patient requests.