Argument203 [Victors小组]第十次作业 by H-Kevin

H-KevinUID: 2182070

TOPIC: ARGUMENT203 - The following appeared in a newspaper feature story."At the small, nonprofit hospital in the town of Saluda, the average length of a patient's stay is two days; at the large, for-profit hospital in the nearby city of Megaville, the average patient stay is six days. Also, the cure rate among patients in the Saluda hospital is about twice that of the Megaville hospital. The Saluda hospital has more employees per patient than the hospital in Megaville, and there are few complaints about service at the local hospital. Such data indicate that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than treatment in larger, for-profit hospitals."

提纲：

1．时间的长短要取决于疾病的种类
2．治愈率的两倍可能只是由于S医院的病人都是一些简单的疾病，也可能是病人数比较少，好治的病人又多。M医院可能刚好相反
3．有很多的雇佣人员不能说明什么问题，可能只是结构复杂，人员浪费
4．抱怨少的原因，可能也是因为病人少，或者那边的病人一看是non-profit就不想抱怨了,没有抱怨服务，不一定没有抱怨治疗方案或者效果
5．即使s医院好，也只是个例，不能说全部的都是这样

NUMBER :595   TIMES: 50min

The speaker argues that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than treatment in larger, for-profit hospitals. To support this argument the speaker points out that the average length of a patient's stay in non-profit hospital is much shorter than that in for profit hospital. The speaker also cites that the cure rate among patients in the Saluda hospital is about twice. Then the speaker points out that there are few complaints about service at the Saluda hospital. The speaker suffers from several problems, which render it unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, only the average length of a patient’s stay can not be the factor what we based on to decide the treatment quality, as we know based on the common sense that the patients who get a lung infection would spent less time than that who got a blood tumor. And, that if majority patients in that non-profit hospital is just get a common disease like the serious cold and acute kidney infection, when majority patients in that for profit hospital is the one got tumor and fracture, could reduce reliability of material supporting the argument. Thus lacking reliable evidence of the species of disease what might be very different in these two hospitals, we can use the average length of a patient’s stay as a treatment quality standard.

Secondly, the argument assumes that the cure rate among patients in the Saluda hospital is about twice. Yet the speakers fail to providence to support this assumption. Because it is entirely possible, the same reason that I mentioned in the previous paragraph, that majority patients in this hospital just have a disease that will be easy to treatment. Without considering the difference among those diverse diseases, the speaker cannot justifiably conclude that the cure rate among patients is a treatment quality standard in this case.

Thirdly, the speaker unfairly implies that a nonprofit hospital is of better quality due to there are few complaints about service at the Saluda hospital. However, few complaints about service do not mean few complaints about treatment. For instance, although the patients get a poor treatment from the doctor in Saluda hospital, they still do want complaints the service because they receive the excellent service from the desk clerk and nurses. So the speaker cannot confidently recommend that the one of reasons why this nonprofit hospital is of better quality is only few complaints about service.

Finally, even though on the assumption that the non-profit hospital in Saluda provide more economical and of better quality treatment, we still can not indicate that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality than treatment in larger, for-profit hospitals, because only these two hospital can not represent all the non-profit hospitals and for profit hospitals. Eventually, Every hospital have the very different characteristic, without more authentic data from the various hospitals, the speakers can not persuade us.

in conclusion, the speakers fails to convince me that treatment in smaller, nonprofit hospitals is more economical and of better quality. To strength the argument the speaker must account for all other factors that might influence the average length of a patient's stay and the cure rate among patients. To better assess the complaints, I would need more information about whether these complaints have the same context comparing to the Megaville hospital or only in service not treatment. I would also need to know whether all the non-profit and for profit hospital just worked totally same as hospital in the town of Saluda and Megaville.

[ 本帖最后由 H-Kevin 于 2007-6-19 16:54 编辑 ]