A gawky sixteen-year old girl thrashes about in obscene gestures, shrieking in a strange language. In another context, she would be called possessed; to her father, an important physician, she is epileptic; but to Alex Licata chief neurology resident, she is a fake. If Licata can prove her seizures hysterical, he will be a hero. If not, he may be out of a job...

This is not four-year old BJ Balsiger's first hospital admission, nor is it the first time the physicians have failed to trace the source of his convulsions. Alex Licata's medical student, Casey Lilstrom, has made a list of every...