The power of ‘doing nothing’ in medicine

Medicine is more often about comfort and reassurance than about diagnostics, big machines and glass-fronted hospitals.

 In medicine, most patients present with anxiety because the fear of illness is far greater than the risk of illness. These unfounded fears are whipped up by a thoughtless public awareness campaign, a celebrity ‘illness’ splash to aid a fading career, insensitive comments from a relative, or ‘Googled’ minor symptoms that always suggest: “Consult your doctor, you may have cancer.”