As many as 98,000 people die each year due to medical error. In a camp

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The argument presents data about deaths due to medical errors. A campaign designed to reduce these deaths due to lethal errors does indeed reduce the number of deaths over an 18-month period. No conclusion is presented in the body of the argument; in fact, the question asks us to "infer" or draw a conclusion from the given statements. The conclusion, therefore, will be found in the answer choices; our task is to find a statement that follows directly from the given statements without introducing any new information or assumptions.

(A) While this might generally be true in the real world, the given information does not address whether doctors and nurses are too careless in conducting their jobs.

(B) While the campaign did save a large number of people, we cannot say that every single person who would have died was saved; this answer choice is too extreme.

(C) The argument does not provide information to make predictions about the future; in addition, this answer choice is extreme. Common sense tells us that we cannot prevent every single medical error in the future.

(D) CORRECT. This statement can be inferred from the original argument. If the campaign saved the lives of people who otherwise would have died of medical error, then the absence of the campaign would have meant that many of those people might not have been saved. Notice that this answer choice is more of a restatement of the given information, rather than what we would consider a true conclusion in the real world; this is typical of correct answer choices on GMAT inference questions.

(E) While this sounds like a good idea, given the evidence, the argument does not provide information to make predictions about the future.