Aheed’s roommates brought him to the emergency room because hestarted behaving oddly. Specifically, they reported that he wascollecting litter from campus in his room, he did not seem tonotice when they spoke directly to him, and they do not rememberthe last time they saw him sleep or eat. One roommate rememberedAheed once mentioned an uncle who was diagnosed with schizophrenia.The doctors thanked the roommates and said they would consider thatdiagnosis after they ruled out rival hypotheses. Is it appropriatefor the doctors to consider another diagnosis given the informationthey have? What hypotheses might they be looking to rule out beforeconfirming any diagnosis?
