Tuesday's questions and sample explanations - #6

6. Early in the 20^th century, the doctor was a comforter. His job was to predict the progress of a disease, or to help the patient cope with his illness or imminent death, but not to work miracles. This situation changed with the invention of such drugs as penicillin, insulin, and antibiotics. Add the rapid development of medical technology, and we find doctors under pressure to cure every disease, heal every injury, and maximize every patient’s quality of life. Society is no longer satisfied with the dedicated efforts of human beings; it now demands perfect performance of technicians as foolproof as the most sophisticated machines.

Which one of the following can be most reasonably inferred from the passage?

1. Today’s doctors do not view comforting the patient as part of their job.
2. Medical incompetence is more widespread today than it was in the early 20^th century.
3. The patient today expects results, not sympathy, from his or her doctor.
4. As medical technology has advanced, health-care workers have become less sensitive to the feelings of their patients.
5. Because doctors cannot meet the often unrealistic expectations of their patients, they are subjected to an ever-increasing number of malpractice suits.

(C) is correct. The argument discusses the change in the role of doctors, as perceived by society, over the past 100 years, from "comforter" to infallible healer. The implication is that 100 years ago, doctors were not expected to cure every disease or heal every injury, but today, thanks to medical technology, they are. (C) is another way of saying this very thing. Because patients expect to be cured or healed no matter what the illness or injury, and since "sympathy" will not accomplish that, it can be inferred that the patients expect results, not sympathy.

(A) is incorrect because it is a false implication. The fact that a doctor's primary job is no longer that of comforting the patient, and fact that patients' expectations have changed, does not mean that comforting people is no longer even a part of the doctor's job.

(B) is incorrect because the argument makes no mention of competence, one way or another, now or 100 years ago. The argument is concerned with patients' expectations. Medical competence does not enter into the equation.

(D) is incorrect because, like (A), it is a false implication. The argument does not imply that doctors are less sensitive to patients' feelings than they were 100 years ago. It only argues that patients' expectations are different now.

(E) is incorrect because while it may be true, it is not a logical extension of the argument. The argument does not tell us that doctors cannot meet patients' expectations, only what those expectations are. In addition, (E) adds a new topic, medical malpractice, that is not referred to in the stimulus.