There are two available procedures for treating heart disease. The two

There are two available procedures for treating heart disease. The two procedures are equally effective, but one of them is slightly cheaper than the other is. Doctors, therefore, decided to save money by treating heart patients with the cheaper procedure.

Summary:
2 procedure for heart disease treatment
1 cheaper than other
Conc: Doctor save money by going for cheap one

WEAKEN TYPE

Which of the following presents the greatest challenge to the doctors' judgment?


A. The cheaper procedure is not as pleasant for the patients as the other procedure is.
Correct IMO. Because apart from doctors judgment patients have a strong role and if it is not pleasant for patient then doctors can decide to do the other procedure.

B. The more expensive procedure requires special instruments, which are not yet available in all hospitals.
Strengthen the conc.

C. More articles have been published on the cheaper procedure than on the more expensive one.
This seems irrelevant

D. Patients should be included in the decision-making process regarding their own treatment.
Here, I did in one instance think this should be the answer. But this presents new information which is not related to this argument. Incorrect

E. The more expensive procedure takes longer to administer and requires the assistance of a nurse.
Strengthens as this is not money saving and takes favour of expensive one

A. The cheaper procedure is not as pleasant for the patients as the other procedure is.

because we have to identify the choice that highlights the negative side of the cheaper procedure.

Why not option 4 Is the answer??

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OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

There are two available procedures for treating heart disease. The two procedures are equally effective, but one of them is slightly cheaper than the other is. Doctors, therefore, decided to save money by treating heart patients with the cheaper procedure.

Which of the following presents the greatest challenge to the doctors' judgment?


A. The cheaper procedure is not as pleasant for the patients as the other procedure is.

To solve this Conclusion Weakening question, first break down the argument. The first two sentences are premises which provide factual data; the last sentence uses the conclusion conjunction therefore so it's the conclusion:

Premise A: heart disease can be treated in two ways
+
Premise B: both procedures have the same result, but one is cheaper
=
Conclusion: to save money, doctors decided to use the cheaper procedure

Possible assumption: the only factors that play a part in deciding upon a medical procedure are result and cost.

Weakening Data: ?

You are required to find data that weakens the doctors' decision that the cheaper procedure is the one they should use. The correct answer could be one that exposes the argument's assumption.

This answer choice exposes the argument's assumption. Introducing the patient's viewpoint/feeling shows us that there are additional factors playing a part in the decision of which medical procedure to use. Therefore, the conclusion is weakened since the doctors' decision now needs to take into account the patient's viewpoint, and not just the expenses.


B. The more expensive procedure requires special instruments, which are not yet available in all hospitals.

Incorrect.

To solve this Conclusion Weakening question, first break down the argument. The first two sentences are premises which provide factual data; the last sentence uses the conclusion conjunction therefore so it's the conclusion:

Premise A: heart disease can be treated in two ways
+
Premise B: both procedures have the same result, but one is cheaper
=
Conclusion: to save money, doctors decided to use the cheaper procedure

Possible assumption: the only factors that play a part in deciding upon a medical procedure are result and cost.

Weakening Data: ?

You are required to find data that weakens the doctors' decision that the cheaper procedure is the one they should use. The correct answer could be one that exposes the argument's assumption.

This answer choice strengthens the conclusion because it presents a drawback of the more expensive procedure. We were asked to weaken the doctors' decision which was to use the cheaper procedure. Thus, the correct answer is one that shows a drawback of the cheaper procedure or an advantage of the more expensive procedure.

To prevent confusion, it is recommended that you write what you're looking for on your noteboard:

cheap -

expensive +


C. More articles have been published on the cheaper procedure than on the more expensive one.

Incorrect.

This answer choice strengthens the conclusion because it presents a further advantage of the cheaper procedure. We were asked to weaken the doctors' decision which was to use the cheaper procedure. Thus, the correct answer is one that shows a drawback of the cheaper procedure, or an advantage of the more expensive procedure.

To prevent confusion, it is recommended that you write what you're looking for on your noteboard:

cheap -

expensive +


D. Patients should be included in the decision-making process regarding their own treatment.

Incorrect.

This answer choice neither weakens nor strengthens the conclusion as the information presented by it does not favor one procedure over the other.

We were asked to weaken the doctors' decision which was to use the cheaper procedure. Thus, the correct answer is one that shows a drawback of the cheaper procedure or an advantage of the more expensive procedure.

To prevent confusion, it is recommended that you write what you're looking for on your noteboard:

cheap -

expensive +

To prevent confusion, it is recommended that you write what you're looking for on the scratch paper:

cheap - bad

expensive - good


E. The more expensive procedure takes longer to administer and requires the assistance of a nurse.

Incorrect.

This answer choice strengthens the conclusion because it presents a drawback of the more expensive procedure. We were asked to weaken the doctors' decision which was to use the cheaper procedure. Thus, the correct answer is one that shows a drawback of the cheaper procedure or an advantage of the more expensive procedure.

To prevent confusion, it is recommended that you write what you're looking for on your noteboard:

cheap -

expensive +

Hi PrerANASHARMA1234

Option D is wrong as it neither weakens nor strengthen the conclusion. Think if your doctor asked you that I will opting a procedure you can say either yes or no, if yes it won't weaken your conclusion, so you have to find the option which will really weaken the conclusion.