JAMA commentary attacks the notion of clinical inertia

I have discussed how nonadherence to therapy could be conceptualized as nonviolent resistance to medicine’s push to overdiagnosis and overtreatment, particularly in patients with multiple chronic conditions.

JAMA has published an important commentary by which the author’s essentially propose that what some have conceptualized as clinical inertia may be instead interpreted as nonviolent resistance of clinicians to healthcare push for more healthcare on patients. The authors say:

…clinical inertia may be a clinical safeguard for the drug-intensive style of medicine fueled by the current medical literature.”

Minimally disruptive medicine, thus, represents a solution, an assertive one, for both patients and clinicians that needs to overcome corruption of both the literature and the practice.