The authors express their views on the past, present and future of intensive care medicine in Switzerland. They point some past and present concerns in critical care medicine, but they insist on the future needs of this medical specialty: the critical patients necessitate, and have the right to obtain, a highly trained and specialized personnel, working in strong connection with the whole hospital, in a systemic way of treating patients. The authors insist on the very high complexity of the ICU-patients treated today.