The French law dated March 4th, 2002, on patients' rights and the efficiency of the French health care system, astonished many health professionals, who have always considered patients' rights a duty. It would have been preferable to underline the fact that health preservation is first and foremost a social question based on preventive medicine. Prevention is the future of medicine, but can only expand when it is fully accepted by the population and by health professionals. We deeply regret that preventive medicine takes so little place in an official document aiming to improve the efficiency of health care. Worse, this law totally overlooks the responsibilities of patients, many of who currently jeopardize their own health and life expectancy with total impunity. Are not laws built on the twin foundations of duty and responsibility?
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