The conviction that a reductionist view of the world and the exclusive application of the analytical method in science have not been able to give us either an adequate theoretical framework or good operational models for health and health care underlies most of the contemporary literature on the so-called "health crisis 2000".¹ A concern shared by many authors interested in this topic is the need to overcome the old reductionist models of health and to provide an approach that does justice to the human person as a whole.