[The rule of medical inertia]

This study deals with the history of medical thinking. It focuses on the factors involved in the breakthrough of new diagnostic and therapeutic methods in practice. In the thesis "Good clinical practice. The History of Medical Ideas in Borås 1780-1900" (1994) the so-called rule of medical inertia was introduced. In this paper different factors regulating the degree of inertia is discussed. The rule of medical inertia perhaps offers a valuable model of medical thought, enabling doctors to make more balanced judgements of new medical information.