Abstract
In the past, for a patient, any hospitalization would end in one of three ways: recovery, death or disability, also regarded as “little death”. Such was the terrible destiny of a patient. Gradually, chronic diseases have slid into the first two options, thanks to the advent of medical diagnosis. The diagnosis surpassed the symptoms. An example is the definition of diabetes obtained through medical diagnosis: according to international norms, a person suffers from diabetes if his glycaemia is 700 mmol/L (126 mg/dL) or more after 8 hours of fasting.