What is the current state of the law regarding patients' rights after 20 years? What are the upcoming changes in a world with an underfunded health care system? How to support caregivers in pain facing increasingly demanding patients in a complex society that has been battered during the pandemic years? Does the control and sanction commission for caregivers make sense in the current health care context? How can we preserve the human element in hospitals when resources are lacking?

How can we value and encourage the communication between patients and caregivers? The author attempts to provide answers and avenues of reflection regarding all of these questions in the context of a narrative review, based on her extensive field experience as a mediator.