In an attempt to discern the paradigms underlying our medical practice (more specifically paediatrics) over the last 30 years, it was found that these are rather similar to the ones prevailing at the beginning of this period--all wrong-doings were attributed to outside forces which had to be neutralized; the obsession to standardise the internal milieu; the compulsion to always do something, little attention being paid to collateral effects; the ends justifying the means and the charm of technology.