The core of the medical profession—the relationship between patient and caregiver—is too often reduced to a mechanical process. The very nature of medical care is at risk because the care of the patient is reduced to the cure of solely his or her physical being.

However, in front of sickness and death, patients are confronted with critical questions, regardless of the outcome of their particular situation: Will I be healed? What is the meaning of this illness? Why is there pain and death? Medical professionals face Equally critical questions: Why is it worthwhile to be a doctor or a nurse today? What is at the heart of being a truly human health care professional? What is it that a patient ultimately asks of a caregiver?

The MedConference proposes that the specific mission of the medical profession includes three main objectives: to cure the patient or at least to attempt to prevent further development of the disease, to alleviate the associated painful symptoms, especially in the advanced stages of illness, and to attend to all the sick person’s needs and expectations.