Does anyone have a good explanation for this problem?

zacharykraning

PT 11 S4 Q19
I am confused about the reasoning in this problem.

legallytired

hey im not the best at explaining but im going to try!
so what the author says in the stimulus as to why the proposal should not be implemented is because skill varies per doctor, so testing the procedure out in a trial would be unhelpful, since as the author says the effectiveness will always depend on the surgeon who is performing it, and therefore cannot really be tested out so to say.

A is correct because it points out a major thing that the author forgets to consider. what if clinical trials could be helpful for new procedures because there could be something naturally wrong with the procedures? like how well a car is driven depends invariably on the person who is driving it. but what if there is something mechanically wrong with someones car that prevents them from driving it properly? just like that, what if regardless of the fact that the effectiveness will vary based on who is performing it, the reasoning given for the clinical trial extension proposal being rejected is not enough, because it could still be helpful in informing us about whether or not the procedure has anything wrong with it in general

B is wrong because the author does not need to consider this. he can ignore that possibility and his argument is still fine, ignoring it does not hurt his argument like ignoring A does. So what if it is meant to elicit criticism?

C is wrong because the author does not assume anything about a singular surgeon's skills remaining the same throughout his life. If anything, he assumes that all surgeons skills differ (which i believe is an alright and common sense assumption to make) but he does not assume anything about skills changing or not changing throughout life. assuming this does not benefit his argument in any way.

D is wrong because not providing scientific evidence does not make the argument flawed. He gave his reasoning and we have to take his word for it that its true as he did provided premises. These kind of arguments where they do not give evidence where it is clearly needed are usually more obvious than this i think as far as what i've seen

I don't really know how to explain why E is wrong but I hope that my explanation for why A is correct helps you understand it a bit better.

Hope that helps, sorry if it isnt the best!!

Help2222

I think A is correct because in the comparison of "...correctly prescribed drugs..." who says the surgical procedure is "correct". In other words the "...surgical procedure varies with the skills of the surgeon who uses it".