argument51 [0710G ＋U Aug小组]第19次作业

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题目：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."
字数：322          用时：00:30:00          日期：2007-8-12 14:53:06

Merely depending on a survey about the severe patients with muscle strain, the arguer suggests all patients to take antibiotics in order to shorten their curing time. This argument suffers several flaws as following.

The argument unjustifiably rests on the comparision of two groups of patients with different therapies. The first group took antibiotics thus shorten their recuperation time while the second one remains the average time. However, is the antibiotics the only factors determining the recuperation time? We are not informed necessary details about two groups of patients such as their life habits and physical conditions. Are the two groups the same in these aspects?
If the fist group of patients had good habits in diet and took physical exercise often, it is not amazing that they recovered faster. Without ruling out these alternatives, the arguer cannot attribute the fast recovery to antibiotics.

  Aside from the patients' situations, the arguer fails to take different doctors into account. It is a doctor specializing in sports medicine who treated the first group while a general physician for the second one. It is highly possible that the specialized doctor have more abundant experience and more professional skills than a general doctor to cure patients with severe muscle strain. Maybe the shortening of curing time of the first group is mostly attributed the suitable instructions of their doctor.
  
   Granted that the result of this survey is reliable, it doesn't necessarily followed to suggest all patients with muscle strain to take antibiotics. This survey is on the severe patients thus it is not reasonable to draw a general conclusion about the effect of antibiotics to all patients without a more general investigation. Since antibiotics often has a negative effect, it is unreasonable to suggest without taking the bad effect of the medicine into account.
    To sum up, the auger should provide more information about survey and take further investigation on the effect of antibiotics before suggesting.