OG'17

Question

The introduction of new drugs into the market is frequently prevented by a shortage of human subjects for the clinical trials needed to show that the drugs are safe and effective. Since the lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental, practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when, in the absence of any treatment proven to be effective, they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the conclusion of the argument?

A) Many drugs undergoing clinical trials ate intended for the treatment of conditions for which there is currently no effective treatment.
B) Patients do not share the physician’s professional concern for public health, but everyone has a moral obligation to alleviate suffering
when able to do so.
C) Usually, half the patients in a clinical trial serve as a control group and receive a nonactive drug in place of the drug being tested.
D) An experimental drug cannot legally be made available to patients unless those patients are subjects in clinical trials of the drug.
E) Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.

OA:E

GMATGuruNY · Answer

fiza gupta wrote:The introduction of new drugs into the market is frequently prevented by a shortage of human subjects for the clinical trials needed to show that the drugs are safe and effective. Since the lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental, practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when, in the absence of any treatment proven to be effective, they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the conclusion of the argument?

A) Many drugs undergoing clinical trials ate intended for the treatment of conditions for which there is currently no effective treatment.
B) Patients do not share the physician’s professional concern for public health, but everyone has a moral obligation to alleviate suffering
when able to do so.
C) Usually, half the patients in a clinical trial serve as a control group and receive a nonactive drug in place of the drug being tested.
D) An experimental drug cannot legally be made available to patients unless those patients are subjects in clinical trials of the drug.
E) Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.

Premise:
The lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental.
Conclusion:
Practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

To weaken the conclusion, the correct answer must show why physicians are morally JUSTIFIED when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

E: Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.
Since their overriding moral duty is to care for their CURRENT patients, physicians are morally justified when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials -- trials designed to benefit not current patients but the lives and health of people in future generations.

The correct answer is E.

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DavidG@VeritasPrep · Answer

fiza gupta wrote:The introduction of new drugs into the market is frequently prevented by a shortage of human subjects for the clinical trials needed to show that the drugs are safe and effective. Since the lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental, practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when, in the absence of any treatment proven to be effective, they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the conclusion of the argument?

A) Many drugs undergoing clinical trials ate intended for the treatment of conditions for which there is currently no effective treatment.
B) Patients do not share the physician’s professional concern for public health, but everyone has a moral obligation to alleviate suffering
when able to do so.
C) Usually, half the patients in a clinical trial serve as a control group and receive a nonactive drug in place of the drug being tested.
D) An experimental drug cannot legally be made available to patients unless those patients are subjects in clinical trials of the drug.
E) Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.

Premise:
The lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental.
Conclusion:
Practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

To weaken the conclusion, the correct answer must show why physicians are morally JUSTIFIED when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

E: Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.
Since their overriding moral duty is to care for their CURRENT patients, physicians are morally justified when they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials -- trials designed to benefit not current patients but the lives and health of people in future generations.

The correct answer is E.

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I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

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I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

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toby001 · Answer

I think this is perhaps one of those cases where "most" in the question stem implies that there's not a perfect answer choice, but that one does the job much better than the rest.

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
fiza gupta wrote:The introduction of new drugs into the market is frequently prevented by a shortage of human subjects for the clinical trials needed to show that the drugs are safe and effective. Since the lives and health of people in future generations may depend on treatments that are currently experimental, practicing physicians are morally in the wrong when, in the absence of any treatment proven to be effective, they fail to encourage suitable patients to volunteer for clinical trials.

Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the conclusion of the argument?

A) Many drugs undergoing clinical trials ate intended for the treatment of conditions for which there is currently no effective treatment.
B) Patients do not share the physician’s professional concern for public health, but everyone has a moral obligation to alleviate suffering
when able to do so.
C) Usually, half the patients in a clinical trial serve as a control group and receive a nonactive drug in place of the drug being tested.
D) An experimental drug cannot legally be made available to patients unless those patients are subjects in clinical trials of the drug.
E) Physicians have an overriding moral and legal duty to care for the health and safety of their current patients.

OA:E
Huh. This CR doesn't feel quite as tight as most official questions, but we don't get to write the questions, so here's what I think they're after -

Conclusion: Physicians are morally wrong when they fail to encourage patients to participate in drug trials
Premise: The health of future patients depends on the patient participation in current drug trials

There's an assumption here that physicians have some obligation to the future patients who will benefit from the drugs tested in drug trials.

Look at E" If the doctors' obligation to current patients is overriding, it means this obligation to current patients takes precedence over their obligation to future patients.

(I don't love this argument, as could make the case that the participation in the drug trial could benefit current patients as well. The point is that if the conclusion is predicated on physicians' obligation to future patients, that argument is weakened if that obligation is superseded by an obligation to current patients.)

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