PT4.S4.Q13 - Physician

thecrazyfro

Why is Answer choice D correct and Answer choice A is not?

MattLSAT

AC A is incorrect because it is a general principle. A sounds good inside a vacuum but consider another disease. Disease "A" and disease "B" could have wildly different treatments. In an extreme scenario, the treatment for disease "A" could have an adverse effect and kill a patient with disease "B". Hence, in this hypothetical (to which the principle in AC A applies) it would be more important to distinguish between disease "A" and "B". The principle in AC A is attractive because it does apply to the situation posed in the stimulus, but it is certainly unlikely that it is what the physician based their reasoning on.

AC D on the other hand establishes the necessary condition that success is only possible if an uncontrollable circumstance is favorable. In this question, the uncontrollable circumstance is whether the patient has disease X or Y. We cannot possibly know which disease the patient is infected with. We also know that disease Y is the only disease that has an effective treatment. So, if success is ONLY possible if we assume the patient has disease Y (the more favorable circumstance), then the physician should prescribe the treatment for disease Y.

AC E is another tricky one because it sounds very similar to the correct AC D and it is conveniently located as the last resort trap answer E. AC E is incorrect because it says that when only one strategy can be successful, the circumstances must be changed. If this was applied to the physician's reasoning, instead of prescribing treatment for disease Y, we would be doing everything possible to ensure the patient has disease Y. For instance, if the patient actually has disease X, under the principle in AC E, instead of prescribing the treatment for disease Y, we would first infect the patient with disease Y.

thecrazyfro

That makes sense now, thank you! @MattLSAT