Self-study
Police published a “wanted” poster for a criminal fugitive in a medical journal, because the fugitive was known to have a certain acute noninfectious skin problem that would eventually require a visit to a doctor. ███ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████████ █ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████████████ ███ ███████ ████████
Objective: Identify a Principle to Support... the Opposite Conclusion?
This question stem is a little unusual: although we need to find a principle which supports a conclusion, we are not supporting the argument's conclusion that an action would align with medical ethics. Instead, we're supporting the opposite conclusion that the action would violate medical ethics. However, in doing so we cannot contradict the premises used in the original argument.
Requirements for the Correct Answer
Our first step to assess each option is to check if the answer choice is compatible with the premises of the original argument. That might let us easily eliminate a few choices. So what are the premises that the answer choices need to respect? First, that it is ethical to report gunshot wounds to police, and second, that it is ethical to report infectious diseases to health authorities. Any principle that prohibits either of these reports can be eliminated.
Once we've narrowed down our choices, the second step is to check which remaining answer choice supports the question stem's conclusion that reporting a fugitive's noninfectious skin problem to police would violate medical ethics. Whichever answer choice supports this conclusion without contradicting the original argument's premises, will be correct.
Analysis by AlexandraNash
13.
Which one of the following ███████████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████████████ █████ ██████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ █ █████████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████
a
Since a physician ████ ████ ██ █ ████████████ ██████ ███ ██ █ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ █████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ ███ ███████████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████████████
b
Since a patient █████ ██ █ █████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████ █████████████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███ █████████████ ███████
c
Since the primary ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███████ ███ █ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████████████ █████████
d
Except as required ██ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███████████ █████ █ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████████
e
Except to other ███████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ████████ ███████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████████