GMAT Prep: Coronary Bypass Surgery

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Of patients over 65 years old who survived coronary bypass surgery-a procedure widely prescribed for people with heart disease-only 75 percent benefited from the surgery. Thus it appears that for one in four such patients, the doctors who advised them to undergo this surgery, with its attendant risks and expense, were more interested in an opportunity to practice their skills and in their fee than in helping the patient.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

A.Many of the patients who receive coronary bypass surgery are less than 55 years old.

B.Possible benefits of coronary bypass surgery include both relief from troubling symptoms and prolongation of life.

C.Most of the patients in the survey decided to undergo coronary bypass surgery because they were advised that the surgery would reduce their risk of future heart attacks.

D.The patients over 65 years old who did not benefit from the coronary bypass surgery were as fully informed as those who did benefit from the surgery as to the risks of the surgery prior to undergoing it.

E.The patients who underwent coronary bypass surgery but who did not benefit from it were medically indistinguishable, prior to their surgery, from the patients who did benefit.
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OA: E

So, obviously people have already posted about this somewhere else and I have read through the explanations about the correct answer. I understand why the correct answer is correct, but everytime someone asks why D is not correct, the thread ends.

May I trouble an expert to explain why D is incorrect? (and I may have missed a previous explanation on this if it's already been done elsewhere - if so, I apologize for the repetition. It's such a HUGE forum!)

Thank you!
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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Fri May 18, 2012 2:52 am
Of patients over 65 years old who survived coronary bypass surgery-a procedure widely prescribed for people with heart disease-only 75 percent benefited from the surgery. Thus it appears that for one in four such patients, the doctors who advised them to undergo this surgery, with its attendant risks and expense, were more interested in an opportunity to practice their skills and in their fee than in helping the patient.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

A.Many of the patients who receive coronary bypass surgery are less than 55 years old. (out of scope)

B.Possible benefits of coronary bypass surgery include both relief from troubling symptoms and prolongation of life. (out of scope)

C.Most of the patients in the survey decided to undergo coronary bypass surgery because they were advised that the surgery would reduce their risk of future heart attacks. (kind of supports)

D.The patients over 65 years old who did not benefit from the coronary bypass surgery were as fully informed as those who did benefit from the surgery as to the risks of the surgery prior to undergoing it. (contender)

E.The patients who underwent coronary bypass surgery but who did not benefit from it were medically indistinguishable, prior to their surgery, from the patients who did benefit. (perfect)

So, E.

My explanation for E: E says that there was no way doctor could tell who will benefit and who will not from the surgery. So, Doctors could not have sent people who would not benefit and hence Doctors did not fool people who did not require surgery.

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by i_have_no_cool_username » Fri May 18, 2012 7:52 am
Gaurav, thanks for your response. I do understand why E is the correct answer. But my question was - why is D incorrect? "Contender" doesn't really explain the logic behind its error... :)

Is D a "may be true, but not necessarily" kind of answer? Someone? Pls?

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by dhonu121 » Fri May 18, 2012 12:29 pm
i_have_no_cool_username wrote:Gaurav, thanks for your response. I do understand why E is the correct answer. But my question was - why is D incorrect? "Contender" doesn't really explain the logic behind its error... :)

Is D a "may be true, but not necessarily" kind of answer? Someone? Pls?
Hi i_have_no_cool_username,
Why do you think D weakens the argument ?
Here, we have to weaken the conclusion which says something about the intention of doctors regarding their advising their patients "about" taking a surgery. D does not tell anything about doctors' advising their patients for or against taking a surgery. Neither does D tell anything from which we can conclude about doctors' intentions.
I don't think that you should be getting confused between D and E.
Please let me know if I am not clear enough or if I am missing some point.
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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Fri May 18, 2012 12:43 pm
I don't think knowing that all patients were informed of the risks is particularly relevant to the motivations of the surgeons.
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by digvijayk » Fri May 18, 2012 2:07 pm
"Why D is not correct ?" Is a great question, since its better to know how to eliminate four wrongs then explain why the one left is right. Still, I'll give a simple reasoning.

C -> Doctor's intentions were for profit-making/practice.
P1 -> 75%, i.e. 3/4th benefitted.
Assumption -> the 1/4th who didn't benefit were cases where the doctor thought to himself, "Ah well! he isn't going to improve. So, I might as well put him under the knife and make some money on it". That's a funny picture, but if you really know the Assumption, you'll know why D is wrong. So, the 1/4th can only be duped if the doc already knew that there would be no improvement post surgery.


Now when you'll look at the question and have single minded focus of someone who wants to weaken the Assumption above, you'll solve it and zap "D". We have to find something that says something like the docs didn't do it on purpose and they didn't know it beforehand that people won't improve.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?

A.Many of the patients who receive coronary bypass surgery are less than 55 years old. (Nope, we're looking for doc's intentions, not you, sorry, byebye)

B.Possible benefits of coronary bypass surgery include both relief from troubling symptoms and prolongation of life. (duh! We're looking for Doc's intentions. so ? You're outta here)

C.Most of the patients in the survey decided to undergo coronary bypass surgery because they were advised that the surgery would reduce their risk of future heart attacks. (Does this tell me that doc knew the patients wouldn't improve ? NO. So this choice is gone)

D.The patients over 65 years old who did not benefit from the coronary bypass surgery were as fully informed as those who did benefit from the surgery as to the risks of the surgery prior to undergoing it. (Does this mean that the Docs knew that patients won't improve post-surgery ? It might just be legal procedure for docs to tell you, "You could get better and you could die too". What does it tell you about docs' knowledge or intention prior to surgery.)

E.The patients who underwent coronary bypass surgery but who did not benefit from it were medically indistinguishable, prior to their surgery, from the patients who did benefit. (Now here, you know why this is true, because indistinguishable means that the docs couldn't have intentionally operated on 3/4th of the folks for helping and 1/4th of the folks for practice or money)

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by Gaurav 2013-fall » Fri May 18, 2012 11:48 pm
i_have_no_cool_username wrote:Gaurav, thanks for your response. I do understand why E is the correct answer. But my question was - why is D incorrect? "Contender" doesn't really explain the logic behind its error... :)

Is D a "may be true, but not necessarily" kind of answer? Someone? Pls?

No, I re read the problem and In my opinion D is more about the risks associated with the surgery. Doctors could tell them that these are the risks involved but you have to undergo the surgery. This indicates that doctors may have wanted to make money. Informing about the risks does not free doctors of the blame.