[IS PATIENT INFORMATION AN ILLUSION?]

Although the idea is widespread today in the medical community that patients are fully informed, since this is now guaranteed by law, we should ask whether this information is always provided, and indeed truly encouraged. To answer this question, the reflection is based on data collected during two anthropological research projects, one on the information provided to people with serious diseases in the hospital environment and the other on information relating to medicines in the context of self-medication. This research reveals that the obligation to inform to which health professionals are bound is thwarted by the reality of information on the ground--which arises from cultural and social mechanisms--and that, despite declarations of faith in patient education, health information provision remains limited.