One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from compl

Question

Competition Mode Question

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery. If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

Which of the following, if true, is the best reason to reject this argument?

A. St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients.
B. St.Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St.Vincent's.
C. St.Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff.
D. St.Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance.
E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's.

anbknaga · Answer

Argument Analysis  :

St. V: 1 in 4 die due to complications in (after) heart surgery
St. M: 1 in 6 die due to complications in (after) heart surgery
C: Make sure to GO TO St. M and St. V if you need heart surgery.

Question Stem Analysis  : Best reason to reject the argument. So we have to  weaken  the conclusion

Pre-Thinking  : What could be the reason to reject the conclusion? We have to bring in a fact that will support St. V even if it has 1 in 4 deaths compared to St. M which has only 1 in 6 deaths. One reason I could think of is that St. V performs complex operations than St. M and thus the reasons for the proportions of death. St. V could perform complex life-threatening surgeries and St. M could perform simple surgeries and still managed to get 1 in 6 deaths.

Option Analysis  :

A - This seems a possible answer. Since St. V performs heart surgeries on elderly and high-risk patients which is very complicated and often associated risky and still have 75% success rate. Then the success rate should definitely be higher for normal aged heart surgeries. This means St. V is really good at doing heart surgeries.

B - Having up-to date surgical equipment doesn't mean the surgery will be successful. Even if that is the case, we have to come up with an answer choice that supports St. V.

C - Having the most renowned heart surgeon doesn't give any solid reason for us to prefer St. V because it does not tell anything about the success rate.

D - Insurance and payments are not discussed int he argument. Irrelevant.

E - Again this is also irrelevant. We need a solid answer to prefer St. V. We don't know anything about those doctors.

Hence the answer is  A

EncounterGMAT · Answer

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery. If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

Which of the following, if true, is the best reason to reject this argument?- WEAKEN

Let's jot down the points:
Premise: 1/4 HS die @V
Premise: 1/6 HS die @M
Conclusion: For HS, M is best not V

We need to weaken the argument to state M is not always/sometimes better than M, and since the passage involves ratios(percentage), please refer to this reasoning  https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-percentage-of-global-tourists-who-visit-kokua-has-increased-by-fiv-303899.html#p2347221  because statistics can be very deceiving.

A. St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients.
  CORRECT  It gives a reason as to why Vincent has high death rate from complications during surgery. It would have a higher rate of mortality among its patients. Also, negation technique works for this sentence.

B. St.Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St.Vincent's.
INCORRECT. This sentence strengthens the argument.

C. St.Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff.
INCORRECT. Contender but does nothing to contradict the statistics.

D. St.Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance.
INCORRECT. How does payment option even matter in this argument. Irrelevant.

E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's.
INCORRECT. Incomplete information. If the reason to change the hospital was given, we would have considered it.

LalitaSiri · Answer

1/4 of heart surgery patients dies at St. vincents, and 1/6 of heart surgery patients dies at St. Mary.

Conclusion: If you need heart surgery, you should go to St. Mary’s, not St. Vincents

To reject the conclusion, we must find support that St. Vincents is better in heart surgery operation than St. Mary.

Option A: St. Vincent is specialize in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients - same as our pre thinking. If St. Vincent is specialize in heart surgery, those high risk patients will be more likely to died during the operation. Therefore, St. Vincent might have a higher probability that patient will die during operation. Thus, refusing the argument.

Therefore, A

Posted from my mobile device

joohwangie · Answer

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery. If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

-->St. Mary have a lower rate of failure than St. Vincent's. therefore if want heart surgery go to St. Mary.

Which of the following, if true, is the best reason to  reject  this argument?

to reject we need to find something that is the reason why St. vincent have lower success rate than st. mary.
A. St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients.  high risk therefore could lead to lower success. one of the candidate, let's see the others 
B. St.Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St.Vincent's.  support the argument not reject 
C. St.Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff.  renowned staff doesn't mean anything 
D. St.Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance.  out of scope 
E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's.  does not answer the question

therefore, A

eakabuah · Answer

Option B is out because it reinforces the argument rather give a cause for its rejection.
C talks about St Vincent’s having the best heart surgeon, and this in itself is not enough reason to reject the argument for St Mary’s as it is possible that St Mary’s might have better facilities which will make them better at performing heart surgeries. So C is not the answer.
D is incorrect because offering of flexible payment balances for costs not covered by insurance will be irrelevant if you cannot be assured of getting better health care.
E does not give enough reason to reject the argument for St Mary’s because those two Doctors could leave St Mary’s for many reason. It could even be for not being able to meet the demands of high standards.
A is the correct answer, because of the fact that StVincent’s work on highly risky patients who are more likely to die from the surgery. So the fact that they are able to get 1 death out of 4 means that they are successful on 3 out 4 high risk patients. So, if you’re a high risk patient, you’re better off going to St Vincent rather than St Mary’s.

Posted from my mobile device

saltbae · Answer

My guess is (A).

If St. Vincent’s specialises in treating patients who already have an assumably low chance of survival, the numbers would of course reflect the same.

Posted from my mobile device

Archit3110 · Answer

Premise; One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery.
Conclusion; If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

we need to weaken the conclusion ;
IMO E; Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's.

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery. If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

Which of the following, if true, is the best reason to reject this argument?

A. St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients ; arguement does not say that patients are elderly or high risk this option is a good lets hold on to it 
B. St.Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St.Vincent's. irrelevant
C. St.Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff.irrelevant
D. St.Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance.irrelevant
E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's. seems to be a valid and correct over option A to weaken the argument IMO E

exc4libur · Answer

ARGUMENT
  If you need a heart surgery, go to Mary's instead of Vincent's, because   the ratio of patients who die during surgery is greater for Vincent's than for Mary's;   the argument assumes that the difference in ratios implies a difference in expertise.

WEAKEN
what if Vincent's takes in more patients with a low survival rate than Mary's does: this would weaken the argument by attacking the premise, showing that the difference in ratio does not imply what is assumed (expertise levels).

(B) strengthens;
(C) what if the best surgeon doesn't operate? what if Mary's has the most renowned surgeon in the world? out;
(D) what if most people are insured, this would strengthen M's, but what if most weren't insured? out;
(E) what if these doctor's were worst than those at V's? what if they were the best at M's? out;

Answer (A)

kushipk10 · Answer

opion A

This option weakens the statement saying, vincent hospital deals with risky surgeries so rate of deaths & complications are high.

unraveled · Answer

This is a weaken question.

Premise: At St. Vincent's one out of our heart surgery patients dies due to complications during surgery. On the other hand, at St. Mary's one out of six heart surgery patients dies for same reasons.

Conclusion: Someone needing heart surgery should go to St. Mary’s not St. Vincent’s

Correct choice would highlight something not given in the argument and explain the reason behind such a difference between the two.

A. St. Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients. – CORRECT. Treatment of elderly and high – risk patients might lead to increase in failure rate. Thus, St. Vincent’s has such a higher rate compared to St. Mary’s.
B. St. Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St. Vincent's. – WRONG. It goes exactly into the opposite direction and strengthens the argument made.
C. St. Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff. – WRONG. It’s about the patients and not surgeons since having renowned heart surgeon might be good reason for promoting St. Vincent’s but it can’t control the rate. What if the surgeries are generally performed by subordinates.
D. St. Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance. – WRONG. Like option B this is also strengthens argument somewhat but it is irrelevant as far as controlling rates is concerned.
E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St. Vincent's. – WRONG. Irrelevant. It does not explain anything.

IMO Answer (A).

YanuJay · Answer

A is the correct answer that undermines the conclusion.

snoep · Answer

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from complications during surgery. Only one out of six heart surgery patients at St.Mary's dies from complications during surgery. If you need heart surgery, make sure you go to St.Mary's, not St.Vincent's.

St Vincent's death rate is 25% from complications during surgery, and St Mary's is approx. 17%. So for heart surgery, go to Mary's and not Vincent's

how to weaken the argument

A. St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients.
This is a good reason to go to Vincent's. It means Vincent's get complicated cases than Mary's

B. St.Mary's surgical equipment is more up to date than St.Vincent's.
this strengthen's the argument not rejects it

C. St.Vincent's has the most renowned heart surgeon in the country on its staff.
This is a good contender, however, having one most skilled person does not mean most success in all cases unless he will be performing the surgery for all patients.

D. St.Vincent's offers flexible payment options for balances not covered by insurance.
not relevant to the reasoning

E. Two doctors who used to work at St.Mary's now work at St.Vincent's. 
doesn't much add to the reasoning on how this will help to choose between Mary's and Vincent's

A is the answer!

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Correct Answer: A 
 
Statistics can be very deceiving. In this case, based only on the numbers, St.Mary's seems like a safer place to undergo heart surgery. But what you do not know about St.Mary's and St.Vincent's can lead you to make a poor choice. If St.Vincent's specializes in heart surgery for elderly and high-risk patients (choice a), then it is logical that it would have a higher rate of mortality among its patients. Indeed, given this fact, the difference in mortality rates may make a case for going to St.Vincent's instead of St.Mary's. Assuming you are not an elderly or high-risk patient, to make an informed choice, you would need statistics about St.Vincent's mortality rates for surgery on patients who are not elderly or high risk. Up-to-date equipment is important (choice b), but the condition of the patients prior to surgery and the skill of the surgeons are more important considerations. The fact that St.Vincent's has the best heart surgeon in the country (choice c) is compelling, but it does not contradict the statistics. The payment options (choice d) are irrelevant if you do not survive the surgery, and there can be many reasons why the doctors who worked at St.Mary's are now at St.Vincent's (choice e), so you cannot consider this factor without more information.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

 This post was generated automatically.

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from compl

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

One out of four heart surgery patients at St.Vincent's dies from compl

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards