Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also thank the witnesses for their testimony.
I will address Dr. Viens first, and then Dr. Downar.
I come from an extremely rural area, far from major urban centres. I'm probably the member of parliament from one of the regions in the country with highest average age. I have had experiences of accompanying people in death, including close family members. My sister died very young, at 46. She had decided not to go to a hospice and to die at home, while receiving nursing care there twice a day.
Other people I knew well died after long illnesses in long-term care facilities. In my region, the smaller long-term care facilities have set up a room for palliative care where the family can come. It's more comfortable for the patient and for the family. Our smaller hospitals have set up palliative care rooms on certain floors.
This leads me to ask the following question. In your presentation, Dr. Viens, you said that there has never been a definition of what palliative care is. Some of the documents that I have seen distinguish between quality palliative care and poor palliative care.
For the patient who is at the end of life, what does this mean? How do we define good palliative care?