[Philosophical and historical values of medicine]

History of Medicine has pointed its higher attention on both great physicians and relevant medical schools. The hieratic person of the physician has been pre-eminent and conditioning the relationship between patients and doctor, the latter in a paternalistic dominant position. Changes occurred in medicine during the last century, mainly related to the technological advancements and a new ethiopatogenetic view. Better social conditions, improvement of diagnostic procedures and the discovery of effective therapeutic drugs (e.g. antibiotics, etc.) has produced advancements in general life conditions (measured by parameters such as aging, reduction of newborn mortality etc.), but also an increase in the cost of the social medical system. So, the new frontier of History of Medicine is the analysis of changes occurred in medicine (new epistemological rules, pressure of new technologies, more sophisticated citizens-patients) to deepen the values of medicine in an anthropological view of managed care.