LAUSR

or human beings, immortality is a latent dream. This aspiration is thwarted, however, by illness and particularly F by the limited financial resources available in a unique place—the hospital—where care providers and nonmedical personnel struggle to overcome these limitations and restore life. Therein lies the paradox: a hospital is not an ordinary business undertaking; it is too much a part of the crux of life—as when, for instance, we come into the world or leave it. In their article recently published in WORLD NEUROSURGERY, Castlen et al. provide an interesting review of relationships in this setting. The review offers a starting point for my suggestion to look more closely at the conditions for the successful introduction into the hospital system of an actor who combines at the apex the dual competencies of the medical provider and the manager.