Time to let the patient speak.

"Listen to the complaint of the patient, however tiresome or irrelevant that may seem. He will eventually tell you what is the matter with him.... It is usually better in terms ofboth care and time to allow the flow to come to a natural halt from exhaustion of either the speaker or the material." The first half of this advice (from an experienced advocate and judge in medicolegal cases and a health service commissioner) is part of the oral tradition of medical practice. But how long is the time offlow to a natural halt? Two years ago I wrote that few patients, if uninterrupted, talk for longer than two to three minutes2 and carried out an experiment to support this contention.