Pedro Alfonso LABARIEGA VILLANUEVA ^*

The Mexican Civil Code regu-lates the physician-patient relationship as a professional services rendering con-tract. The author is dissatisfied with this provision and he questions the legal nature of the relationship, because he believes it fundamental to determine the regulation of this contract. After he examines the hete-rogeneity of opinions he finds that none of these is convincing enough to be applied as unique and incontrovertible, due to the manner in which the profession is practi-ced and due to the great diversity of medical specialties. Given the problem of determing the legal nature of a certain relationship involving a medical profes-sional, he suggests that a detailed analy-sis be made of two important components: the form in which the physician practi-ces the profession and the activity carried out in each specific step. For his part, the author is in pro of the creation of a -stan-dardized and autonomous- medical ser-vices contract, specifically regulated in the Civil Code or in the Health Law, conside-ring that the necessary circumstances and means exist to sustain the physician's professional activity.