LSAT 4 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q13

LR Question 13 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Physician: The patient is suffering either from disease X…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

CONCLUSION: We must assume that the patient has disease Y and treat the patient.

REASONING: The patient has either disease X or Y and there is no way of knowing. We only have a treatment for disease Y.

ANALYSIS: This isn’t a bad strategy, assuming the treatment has no harmful side effects. In the best case, we save the patient. In the worst case, there was nothing we could have done.

___________

1. If we could tell which disease the patient had, the physician would likely agree we should find that out first.
2. The physician is assuming that circumstances will be favorable (disease Y) not unfavorable (disease X.)
3. This isn’t really what the physician is saying. She thinks that since we only have a chance of saving the patient if they have disease Y, we should assume that the patient has that disease. We’re concerned with the patient’s health, not truth.
4. CORRECT. Yes. Since success is only possible if the patient has disease Y, we must act as if they do have disease Y.
5. We’re not changing any circumstances. We’re deciding whether or not to treat the patient. The physicians tells us how to decide.

Recap: The question begins with “Physician: The patient is suffering either from disease X”. It is a Principle question. Learn how to master LSAT Principle questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.