Recent advances in surgical procedures have not decreased the average

Im not convinced either and ill tell you why.
It always happens to me in questions where the reasoning you need to choose is out of scope or doesnt hurt the argument.
Thats exactly whats going on here.
Naturally I want to choose something that does not weaken but not something that doesnt mean anything at all.

Further explanation:-
This choice doesn't weaken or strengthen the conclusion, as the percentage of occupancy does not tell us anything about avg time of post surgical recovery. Author's reasoning is focused around decline in average time of recovery. Just the fact that "the occupancy is less than 30%" doesn't help us to evaluate whether the choice supports or weakens author's claim. The occupancy might have increased from 20% to 25% OR decreased from 25% to 10%. It can go either way, but still remain under 30%. Hence this is the correct for "Weaken EXCEPT" type answer.

A)Operative and post-operative mortality rates are the most accurate indicators of quality of medical care.
-- This choice weakens author's claim and states that operative/post-operative rates are most accurate indicators, NOT the recovery time.

so ?? our conclusion is

Clearly, the quality of operative and post-operative care is declining.

In weaken argument we have always something that explain another aspect related to the argument and ALWAYS out of scope in somehow. ALWAYS

here the only thing I read is .. rates are the most accurate indicators of quality of medical care, in which way ??

Little correction to my explanation
(A) This choice weakens author's claim and states that operative/post-operative mortality rates are most accurate indicators, NOT the recovery time. This weakens author's claim because author is focusing on factors those may not be true indicators of quality.

Premise of the argument: Average post-operative stay in hospitals is increasing
Conclusion: The quality of the operative and the post-operative care is declining.
Assumption:The period of post operative stay in the hospitals determines the quality of the operative and post-operative care

So anything that weakens the argument should weaken the premise, or weaken the assumption or show that the conclusion doesn't logically follow from the premise and the assumption.

Choice A weakens the assumption
Choice D and E weaken the premise

I know the answer is supposed to be B and it is ok but Choice C also doesn't weaken the argument as it doesn't weaken the premise or the assumption. It just says something contrary to the conclusion of the author.

Just want to make a slight correction. (C) does weaken the conclusion. This is because if previously untreatable illnesses can be treated to major procedures then it is likely that these major procedures rather than a decline in the quality of post operative care is driving the increased post operative recovery time.

-Rajat

Recent advances in surgical procedures have not decreased the average time for recovery from medical operations. Compared to ten years ago, the average post-operative hospital stay for patients undergoing surgery at the ten largest hospitals has actually increased by four days. Although mortality rates for operative procedures are much lower, patients are requiring more time to recover from these procedures. Clearly, the quality of operative and post-operative care is declining. The medical community should be very concerned about this grave problem.

All of the following, if true, weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

A. Operative and post-operative mortality rates are the most accurate indicators of quality of medical care.
B. Fewer than thirty percent of beds in the largest hospitals are occupied by patients recovering from surgery.
C. In the past ten years, innovations have allowed previously inoperable conditions to be treated successfully by major surgery.
D. Every year, many surgical procedures that previously required hospital stays are simplified enough that they can safely be performed in outpatient clinics.
E. Average surgical recovery time, measured by hospital stay plus time spent disabled from normal activities at home, has decreased by twelve percent in the last ten years.

I could not decide between B & E. For option E, OE provided by Kaplan is as below:

Choice (E): is out of scope and directly contradicts the author's main evidence.

My question is if E is out of scope, then it doesn't weaken the argument and therefore should be come under 'if true, weaken the argument above EXCEPT'.

Please help with your explanations.

Ya E truly weakens the argument. It says...Average surgical recovery time, measured by hospital stay plus time spent disabled from normal activities at home, has decreased by twelve percent in the last ten years...

What it means? It means that previously patients had to rest at home for longer after surgery, but now they don't have to. It translates to the fact that quality of post surgical care has improved.

So ans should be B.

Posted from my mobile device

Conclusion: Compared to ten years ago, the quality of operative and post-operative care is declining.

A: argument says mortality rates are lower and are most accurate indicators of quality of medical care. It means care is improving. ---- Weakens
C: Innovations allow previously inoperable conditions to be treated now. It means quality has improved. ----- Weakens
D: again complex surgical procedures are simplified to be carried out from clinics. Quality of medical care improved. ---- Weakens

E: Avg surgical recovery time (Time spent at hospital + Time spent disabled from doing normal activities at home) has decreased by 12%, implying that quality of medical care improved. ----- Weakens

Don't get bogged down by the info in the main arg that patients are taking longer time to recover at hospitals. Here, in this choice E, author introduces a new definition of avg recovery time, implying that the total recovery time has decreased over the past 10 years.

B: Fewer than 30% of beds are occupied in the largest hospitals by patients recovering from surgery CORRECT

Fewer than 30% of beds may be 1% or 29% - may turn out to be a negligible number or a significant number. We don't know.

Sounds like we made a typo in our explanation. Sorry for the inconvenience--I'll see about getting this fixed right away! Depending on where you found this problem, there should be an identification number at the bottom of the problem with instructions to forward questions to a Kaplan address--can you forward that ID number to my inbox?

Best,

Thanks Eli for reaching out. ... I have sent a PM to you with ID of the question.

I'm drafting a new explanation right now, it will be up in a few days. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention--we're always looking to improve our offerings!

What's wrong with choice C?
Its clearly out of scope and in such ques types, we usually go for the option that is irrelevant to the ques stem.
B gives us no comparison with the stats of a different time period, how can we judge that "fewer than 30%" is supposed to be a good performance level?

C)In the past ten years, innovations have allowed previously inoperable conditions to be treated successfully by major surgery.

The argument says: “the quality of operative and post-operative care is declining” because “patients are requiring more time to recover from these procedures.”

If we operate in cases in which we did not operate in the past, it would explain the increase in “the average post-operative hospital stay;” does this mean that quality is declining?

Choice C weakens the argument, by showing that quality should not be measured by recovery time alone.

B)Fewer than thirty percent of beds in the largest hospitals are occupied by patients recovering from surgery.

Choice B does not weaken nor supports the argument because occupation in large hospitals does not mean shorter or longer recovery time; similarly, occupation does not mean better or worse quality. So, choice B is irrelevant because it affects neither the premise, nor the conclusion.

Can you explain why "A" is not the correct answer?

. Operative and post-operative mortality rates are the most accurate indicators of quality of medical care.
Since both the indicators are low hence it weakens

B. Fewer than thirty percent of beds in the largest hospitals are occupied by patients recovering from surgery.
We are not in aposition to determine whether it supports or weakens let us hang on to it

C. In the past ten years, innovations have allowed previously inoperable conditions to be treated successfully by major surgery.
This reduces the mortality hence definitely weakens

D. Every year, many surgical procedures that previously required hospital stays are simplified enough that they can safely be performed in outpatient clinics.
This also weakens as many operations are simplfies from precios operations

E. Average surgical recovery time, measured by hospital stay plus time spent disabled from normal activities at home, has decreased by twelve percent in the last ten years.
This also weakens therefore out
Hence IMO B

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