[Quid Nunc? The relationship between the medical world and society in Belgium and in Europe of the 25 at the dawn of the 21st century].

Since about twenty-five years, we observe important transformations of the socio-economic structures of our society, modifying the main references which reign over the social structures and thus over the medical world. As a result, we observe a social syndrome which we can define as a divorce between the medical world and the society. The consequences of this phenomenon can constitute a real danger for the whole society; nevertheless, actually we can still consider that Belgium can assure a very high level of medical care for the greatest part of the population for a really social prize. The main "clinical signs" of this divorce are mentioned and analyzed, the deeper reasons of them as well. Among them, we cite the recent law about the quite exclusive rights of the patients, an incoherent legislation concerning medical activities, the hostility of the world of media against the physicians, the insuffiencies to finance health care and the attacks against several medical organizations and--at least--the fact to give more and more preference to the non-scientific parallel medicine. This whole social process should be kept back because this divorce is not only an economical problem, but rather a question of humanism and of social culture.