title: Clinical medicine between science, ethics and economy: a complex activity.
abstract: Until recently the common opinion was that medicine was substantially a natural science. In recent years, this has completely changed because two non-naturalistic disciplines have become part of the physician's activity; ethics and economy. These new disciplines have evidenced many problems to which doctors did not pay much attention before; however, they had an impact on the clinician's sensibility. At present, clinical medicine represents a complex knowledge as well as an activity: it is both a "historical" and a "technological" science characterized by a specific goal, the recovery or maintenance of health, and by a series of values.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Padova.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Federspil
mesh_terms: D001675:Bioethics; D015510:Clinical Medicine; D004467:Economics; D006801:Humans; D010686:Philosophy, Medical; D012586:Science