Traditional and non-conventional medicines: the socio-anthropological and bioethical paradigms for person-centred medicine, the Italian context

In Italy the use of non-conventional medicines (NCM) is spreading among people as in the rest of Europe. However, in Italy, unlike that in other countries of the European Union, at the present time the juridical/legal status of NCM is not well established, mainly due to the lack of any national law regulating NCM professional training, practice and public supply and to the absence of government-promoted scientific research in this field. This is an obstacle to safeguarding the patient’s interests and freedom of choice, especially now that dissatisfaction with biomedicine is inclining more and more people to look for a holistic, fairer and person-centered form of medicine.