PrepTest 135, Section 2, Question 16
The average length of stay for patients at(43 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(11 more words not shown)
- Aequates the quality(11 more words not shown)
- Btreats a condition(20 more words not shown)
- Cfails to take(21 more words not shown)
- Dpresumes, without providing(21 more words not shown)
- Efails to take(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What are the patients being treated for?
Perhaps University Hospital handles many serious injuries and complex illnesses, while Edgewater treats mostly conditions that require shorter stays. Both hospitals could provide equally good treatment for the same illness, yet University could have a longer average stay because it treats more of the illnesses that take longer to resolve.
For a simple example, imagine a short-term condition needs two days of hospital care and a more serious one needs eight. Give both hospitals the same recovery performance for each condition. The hospital seeing more eight-day cases will still have a higher overall average. Nothing about that difference shows it is keeping patients unnecessarily long.
What we’re looking for
The studies compare recovery rates for similar illnesses. The four-day and six-day figures, however, average across all the patients at each hospital. That's the mismatch. For the flaw question, look for the overlooked possibility that the hospitals treat different mixes of illnesses. Until we address that, copying Edgewater's lower average might mean sending University's patients home before they're ready.
Working the answers
- A
The argument doesn't define quality of care as average length of stay. It treats the two as distinguishable things and claims one can change without harming the other. The problem is the evidence for that claim, not an equation of the two concepts.
- B
We don't have a rule saying that a particular condition guarantees good care and then a claim that good care is impossible without it. We have a comparison between hospitals that may be treating different patient populations. B describes a different mistake.
- CCorrect
If the hospitals tend to treat different illnesses, their overall average stays needn't be directly comparable. University could have more cases that genuinely need lengthy hospital care. Similar recovery rates for patients with similar illnesses wouldn't remove that difference in the hospitals' overall patient mix.
- D
The argument claims University could reduce its current average without harming care. It doesn't need the much broader assumption that length of stay is never relevant to anyone's recovery. The author could think some reductions are safe while others are dangerous. D overstates the commitment.
- E
Preferring a longer stay doesn't establish that the additional time is medically needed or improves care. The question is whether University can shorten stays while preserving quality, not whether every patient would welcome the change.
More Flaw questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Flaw questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.