argument51 [Flamy July小组]第四次a作业

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT51 - The following appeared in a medical newsletter.

"Doctors have long suspected that secondary infections may keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. This hypothesis has now been proved by preliminary results of a study of two groups of patients. The first group of patients, all being treated for muscle injuries by Dr. Newland, a doctor who specializes in sports medicine, took antibiotics regularly throughout their treatment. Their recuperation time was, on average, 40 percent quicker than typically expected. Patients in the second group, all being treated by Dr. Alton, a general physician, were given sugar pills, although the patients believed they were taking antibiotics. Their average recuperation time was not significantly reduced. Therefore, all patients who are diagnosed with muscle strain would be well advised to take antibiotics as part of their treatment."
WORDS: 451        TIME: 0:30:00          DATE: 2006-7-7

In this medical newsletter, the author argues that secondary infections keep some patients from healing quickly after severe muscle strain. The author also recommends that in order to avoid these infections the patients should be advised to take antibiotics. In supporting this recommendation the author compares two groups of patients and points out that the group using antibiotics heals much quicker than the other one. This argument rests on a series of unsubstantiated assumptions, and is therefore unpersuasive as it stands.

Firstly, a threshold assumption upon which the recommendation relies is that the other conditions in the two group are relevantly similar, which cannot be well convinced. Perhaps the hurt of those taken antibiotics are not as serious as those who do not. Or perhaps those taken antibiotics are youngsters while those given sugar pills are relatively elders. In addition, the arguer might ignore the difference between doctors, which may be more important than medicines in determining remedial time. It is quite likely that Dr. Newland is better than Dr. Alton, since the former specializes in sports medicine while the latter is merely a general physician.
(simply：merely, just)

Furthermore, even assuming that the two groups are quite the same, the author fails to rule out possibilities other than secondary infections that may keep the patients away from healing quickly in the study mentioned above. For example, maybe the patients don't have any secondary infections at all. Or maybe antibiotics cure other possible diseases and accelerate the healing, such as inflammation in the junctions of legs and arms, which makes the patients much healthier and heals more quickly.

Finally, even concede that it is the secondary infections that prevent injuries from healing quickly and the antibiotics are able to shorten the time of healing from severe muscle strain，it is still not convincible for the argument to claim that all patients should be well advised to take antibiotics. On one side, antibiotics are not suitable for all the patients, some of whom may be allergic to that medicine. On the other side, the by- effects of antibiotics are not taken into account in this recommendation. In addition, there is no evidence that antibiotics are effective and required for all muscle strain since the study simply points out that they might be effective to severe ones.

In summary, to persuade me that antibiotics is effective to severe muscle strain, the author must also provide other information of the respondents and the way the survey is conducted. Moreover, it is necessary for the author to provide conclusions after the study of other kinds of muscle strain before recommending that antibiotics should be well advised to be used for all the muscle strain.