Quebec opens new palliative care unit with medical assistance in dying program

From left to right: Dr. Nathalie Allard, Philippe Ethier, Stéphanie Morin, Sonia Bélanger, Maude Malo, Marcel Landry, Jean-Robert Laporte, Geneviève Biron, Maryse Poupart, Tommy Pelletier and Myriam Laporte. (CNW Group/Medifice)

A new palliative care pavilion is opening in Saint-Charles-Borromée, Que., which includes a medical assistance in dying (MAID) program.

The $8 million unit, which will have 10 private rooms for patients and shared living spaces, was inaugurated near the Centre hospitalier De Lanaudière Thursday.

The pavilion is a collaboration between the public and private health-care networks, built by Medifice inc., with the help of donors, and run by the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) de Lanaudière.

Medifice President Marcel Landry said the pavilion will be “a place of compassion, dignity, and comfort for those who need it most.”

In a news release, the facility is described as addressing two needs – supporting those with a terminal diagnosis through outpatient services and welcoming end-of-life patients when living at home is no longer possible.

Caroline Leger, head of palliative care at the pavilion, says the pavilion will accommodate patients with three months or less to live and their families with a full medical team.

She says it’s estimated that the number of Quebecers 65 and older will increase by more than 23 per cent in the next 10 years, highlighting the importance of palliative care.

She says adding these 10 beds doubles the room for end-of-life patients in the region.

It’s also rare that MAID is offered in the palliative care setting.

“There was a room the hospital dedicated to that, but the room was fairly small, and it was away from the palliative care unit,” says Leger. “So, we decided to build a room that may host up to about 20 individuals that wants to be there with their loved one during this final care.”

She says the idea is to create an atmosphere conducive to final moments.

But Montreal-based palliative care doctor Justin Sanders says the emphasis should be put on palliative care designed to improve the lives of those with serious illnesses rather than MAID.

Quebec has one of the highest rates of MAID in the world, with assisted dying accounting for 7.3 per cent of all deaths in the province in 2023-2024. During that period, over 5,700 people received MAID in the province.

Sanders says medically assisted dying is not the only way to die with dignity and Quebec must keep investing in resources for those with serious illnesses.

• READ MORE: Palliative care isn’t just for the dying: Demystifying what it means to get help

“The promise of palliative care is not just that we can remove people’s suffering, but that we can give them experiences of transformational growth and integrity that can only come in this time,” he says.

“If we are investing more in medical aid in dying than we are in palliative care, then we will continue to have the kind of suffering that puts people in a position to ask for medical aid in dying,” he adds.

Leger stresses that MAID is only one option patients have, and it’s one medical teams respect.

“We believe that by adding sufficient beds to provide normal, high-quality care, that it will just be beneficial to everybody,” she says.

The Pavilion expects to welcome its first patients in September.