Masterly inactivity: A forgotten precept

Abstract

When I was a medical student at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in the mid-1950s a wise old professor introduced me to the treatment concept of masterly inactivity. Sometimes just waiting and seemingly doing nothing is the favoured therapeutic modality. Over a lifetime in medicine, I have seen many occasions when this approach was successful, and other times when physicians, including myself, have broken this rule with unfortunate and antitherapeutic results.