PrepTest 147, Section 3, Question 17
The following passage is based on an article(425 more words not shown)
Suppose two medical treatments are(35 more words not shown)
- AThe initial results(45 more words not shown)
- BPreliminary results in(37 more words not shown)
- CSeveral of the(32 more words not shown)
- DInitial results from(37 more words not shown)
- EThere is consensus(34 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We need a situation that especially threatens the individual's exact balance while preserving the wider professional disagreement. A participating doctor could come to favor one treatment without thinking that every reasonable expert must agree. That would disrupt theoretical equipoise while leaving the basis for clinical equipoise intact.
What we’re looking for
Watch whose opinions change: the trial's researchers and the expert community as a whole are different groups.
Working the answers
- A
The striking results shift opinion across the wider specialist community, not just among participating researchers. That could threaten the basis for clinical equipoise as well. It doesn't preserve the community disagreement as clearly as D does; most also doesn't mean every expert has switched.
- B
Results suggesting equal effectiveness do not supply the preference that would disrupt theoretical balance. Keeping those results from the broader community doesn't by itself create the requested difference between the standards.
- C
The participating doctors favor one treatment and agree with an expert consensus. Their preferences threaten theoretical balance, but the community consensus also undermines the disagreement needed for clinical equipoise.
- DCorrect
Some researchers develop a preference, ending their exact individual balance. Yet they still recognize the lack of expert consensus. That preserves the distinction we predicted: personal preference can change while the professional disagreement supporting clinical equipoise remains.
- E
The participating physicians agree that the treatments are equally effective. This doesn't show their balance being upset; it gives us no corresponding threat to theoretical equipoise. Broader disagreement does not supply that missing disruption.
More Application questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Application questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.