A hospital stands out from other man-made institutions in that it is a place of special human relationships. This particularity is caused by the fact of entrusting the life and health of one person to the skills and knowledge of another. The patient-doctor relationship is therefore subordinated to all other activities of the institution known as a hospital. This statement seems indisputable, although nowadays, under conditions of the primacy of economic values, it is no longer quite so obvious in health care either.
From the introduction.