[Relations of the physician and his patients in today's medicine: background and perspectives].

In the last decades, demographic, economic and social changes along with the explosive development of scientific and technological aspects in medicine have modified public expectations in health care. The doctor-patient relation has been modified accordingly. Access of all patients to the most sophisticated medical care seems increasingly difficult and may be considered utopic. Thus, education of both medical students and general public must be urgently directed towards the primary and secondary prevention of most common diseases. The doctor-patient relation must be strengthened in the framework of a solid humanistic and scientific basis.