Ethicist: Studies have documented the capacity of placebos to reduce

Placebos reduce pain in patients who believe that they are receiving beneficial drugs.
Some docs say that placebo effect + effective treatment is better than effective treatment alone.
Even if a placebo benefits a patient, a doctor might have given it just satisfy the patient.

Conclusion: Administering placebos is ethically questionable.

The conclusion is based on the motivation of the doc for giving the placebo. The premise says that even if it is beneficial, the doc's motivation may not be the benefit but just to satisfy the patient. This makes it ethically questionable.

A. A patient's psychological satisfaction is not a consideration in administering medical treatment.

The argument tells us that a patient's psychological satisfaction IS a consideration in administering medical treatment. So this is not an assumption.

B. The motivation for administering a placebo can be relevant to the ethical justification for doing so.

Correct. Our argument does assume that the doc's motivation for giving placebo is relevant to the ethical justification. Because the doc may have given it just to satisfy the patient, the argument calls giving placebo ethically questionable.

C. Medical treatment that relies on the placebo effect alone is ethically indefensible.

The argument doesn't talk about placebo effect alone. TI talks about placebo with effective treatment. Hence this is irrelevant.

D. The pain relief produced by the placebo effect justifies the deception involved in administering a placebo.

The argument says that the doc's motivation makes it ethically questionable.

E. Administering a placebo is not ethically justified if that treatment is not prescribed by a doctor.

The argument does not talk about no prescription from the doc.

Answer (B)