Survival is not enough

Survival is not enough is a yearly international event started in 2007 in Naples, Italy, in the week of the World Kidney Day to discuss the needs of renal patients and the quality of life of a category of patients living a machine-dependent life. Renal patients and their associations, philosophers, economists, nephrologists, and health care managers are enrolled to discuss about the possibility to grant the best cures and care without reducing the quality and the quantity of the services the patients need. Various quests have arisen for (1) a new cadre of managers capable of keeping health accounts in balance without cutting expenditure but by reducing waste of resources, (2) the promotion of prevention as the only measure capable of reducing costs in the long run, and (3) the promotion of clinical and translational research. The changes occurring in the health system should be viewed as a window of opportunity, including the advent of the medical-industrial complex firstly described in 1980, an event originating in the United States of America and now spreading worldwide.