LSAT 135 – Section 1 – Question 15

LSAT 135 - Section 1 - Question 15

December 2011

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Question QuickView	Type	Tags	Answer Choices	Curve	Question Difficulty	Psg/Game/S Difficulty	Explanation
PT135 S1 Q15	+LR	Flaw or descriptive weakening +Flaw Causal Reasoning +CausR Net Effect +NetEff Math +Math	A 9% 160 B 1% 155 C 69% 166 D 4% 157 E 17% 162	141 154 167	+Harder	146.098 +SubsectionMedium

Researcher: Every year approximately the same number of people die of iatrogenic “disease”—that is, as a direct result of medical treatments or hospitalization—as die of all other causes combined. Therefore, if medicine could find ways of preventing all iatrogenic disease, the number of deaths per year would decrease by half.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that the number of deaths per year would decrease by half if medicine could prevent all iatrogenic disease. This is based on the fact that as many people die of iatrogenic disease (deaths from medical treatments or hospitalization) as die of all other causes combined.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author overlooks the possibility that if people didn’t die of iatrogenic disease, they might die of other causes (such as the illnesses that required them to be hospitalized or to undergo treatment). So even if we could prevent iatrogenic disease, the number of deaths per year would not go down by half.

prevention of noniatrogenic disease will have an effect on the occurrence of iatrogenic disease

The argument concerns what would happen if we could get rid of iatrogenic disease. It’s not clear what impact prevention of noniatrogenic disease has on the reasoning.

some medical treatments can be replaced by less invasive or damaging alternatives

The author never assumed that no medical treatment could be replaced by less invasive/damaging alternatives. So pointing out that such replacements are possible doesn’t undermine the reasoning of the argument.

people who do not die of one cause may soon die of another cause

This possibility points out that the number of deaths per year would not necessarily decrease by half, even if iatrogenic disease were prevented. People who don’t die from hospitalization might instead die from something else.

there is no one way to prevent all cases of death from iatrogenic disease

The conclusion is conditioned on medicine finding ways of preventing iatrogenic disease. The conclusion doesn’t assume that this is possible. It only assumes what would result IF it were possible. So pointing out that prevention is not possible doesn’t undermine the argument.

whenever a noniatrogenic disease occurs, there is a risk of iatrogenic disease

We already know that iatrogenic disease results from treatments/hospitalization. So the author would already acknowledge that iatrogenic disease might result from other kinds of diseases. The conclusion doesn’t assume that eliminating iatrogenic disease is actually possible.

LSAT 135 – Section 1 – Question 15

LSAT 135 - Section 1 - Question 15

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LSAT PrepTest 135 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Reading Comprehension

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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