Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Dr. Tremblay, in another forum we can have a debate on Quebec's legislative intent. I would now like to move on to another question.
Palliative care, as conceived by Ms. Cicely Saunders, consists of a holistic approach, accompaniment towards death, relief of pain and suffering on the psychic and physical levels, as well as accompaniment of the family, and this in the most natural environment possible.
When palliative care was started, it did not mean leaving the patient to die in a corner. Palliative care helps to slow down the process of dying when it has irrevocably set in. Patients feel better and do better when they are in a palliative care unit. Sometimes they even have to be taken out of the unit because they cannot stay there for more than three months. You are right to demand more access to palliative care.
My next question is for Dr. Buchman and Dr. Tremblay.
If a patient at the end of life, who has received very good palliative care, who has been well supported and who feels serene and ready to let go, asks for medical assistance in dying, do you consider this a failure of palliative care?
Why should we separate these two approaches when they are part of a continuum of end-of-life care?