PT9.S4.Q14 - A careful review of hospital fatalities

Comments

• FixedDice Member

  March 2018 edited March 2018 1804 karma

  1. A caused C
  2. B was absent when C occurred
  3. Therefore, B wouldn't cause C

  (C) is wrong not because the argument implies that B's absence caused C; it assumes that B does not also induce C. Sure, better training leads to declining fatalities. But wouldn't better training and a helpful equipment result in a larger decline? (C) is explaining something inapplicable.
• 1 Like

  _____Wale Alum Member

  March 2018 74 karma

  C is wrong because it says "the evidence cited to show that a certain factor was absent...." This is inconsistent with the evidence in the stimulus. The stimulus only tells us that "Equipment that monitors a patient's oxygen and carbon dioxide levels was not available in most operating rooms"

  Answer choice C says that these equipment were absent (completely unavailable), but that is not the case. They were just not widely used.

  Answer choice A is correct because the fact these equipment were not available in most operating rooms during the review period, does not show that their increased used would not cut fatalities due to anesthesia.

  Think about it this way: It is certainly possible for all the hospital fatalities, during the 20 year review period, to have occurred only in those operating rooms that had the equipment. In such a case, it becomes unclear whether the use of monitoring equipment cannot significantly cut fatalities due to anesthesia because we cannot ascertain whether or not the equipment played a role in reducing fatalities without an additional study.

  Hope that helps!
• 1 Like

  CoraMint Member

  March 2018 34 karma

  @_____Wale said:
  C is wrong because it says "the evidence cited to show that a certain factor was absent...." This is inconsistent with the evidence in the stimulus. The stimulus only tells us that "Equipment that monitors a patient's oxygen and carbon dioxide levels was not available in most operating rooms"

  Answer choice C says that these equipment were absent (completely unavailable), but that is not the case. They were just not widely used.

  Ahhhhh. Most. Duh. That's exactly what I was missing - thank you!