In The Wall Street Journal’s online forum “The Experts,” Dartmouth’s H. Gilbert Welch writes about why the best doctors are often the ones who do nothing.

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“Doctors can fix some problems; others are better fixed by the patient,” says Welch, a professor of medicine at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice and at the Geisel School of Medicine.

“Some problems will resolve on their own, others are better left alone (particularly those ‘problems’ that don’t bother you). The good doctor is not the one that always recommends doing something,” says Welch.

A subscription is needed to read the full opinion piece, published 3/25/15 by The Wall Street Journal.