Spellberg asked what the patient’s symptoms were and was told there weren’t any. “So the question is: How do we treat asymptomatic bacteriuria [bacteria in the urine]? And the answer is: We don’t. This is cognitive dissonance staring us in the face. If this resident had this question on a board exam, he’d get it correct. But that’s a piece of paper and this is a patient staring him in the face, and he’s afraid. And we have not tackled the fear. We’ve got to figure out psychological ways of getting around the fear.”
