argument51 by dingyi

dingyi0311UID: 2627919

To accelerate the recuperation time of people who are diagnosed with muscle strain, the author in the medical newsletter suggest them to take antibiotics as part of their treatment. To support his suggestion, the arguer cites the preliminary results that people take antibiotics heal quicker than those who do not by comparing the patients treated by Dr.Newland and Dr.Alton respectively. The argument sound reasonable at the first glimpse, however, my further reflect has revealed that it suffers at least three logical fallacies as follows.

Firstly, the threshold problem of the argument is that the study cited by the author fail to be carefully controlled the patients in first group are treated by Dr.Newland, a doctor who specialized in sports medicine. Otherwise, the other group is treated by Dr.Alton, a general physician, as the doctors are different in two groups , it is equally possible, that Dr. Newland are more profession in treating the muscle injuries or that he have special way for treatment. As it known to us all that doctors take a very important role in treating the diseases, we may attribute the 40 percents quicker recuperation time to the doctor Newland but the effect of the antibiotics. Moreover, whether the patients are the same in the two groups, the patients in the first group may not so severe that they can heal quicker.


Another problem that weakens the logical of the argument is that the placebo the Dr.Alton used is not very appropriate, perhaps the sugar pill can prolong the healing process of the patients or even make the diseases worse. Without precluding these possibilities，I remain not convinces.

Moreover, the author hastily draws a conclusion that antibiotics need to be used as part of the treatment. May be the antibiotics can cause some side effect，such us increase the tolerance of the patients to the antibiotics, the next time they suffer the other injury, the antibiotic will not effect to control the infection.

In sum, the arguer fail to substantiate his argument that antibiotics can be very effective in preventing secondary infections of patients with muscle strain. To make the argument more convincing, the arguer need
to provide more information on whether the patients in two groups are in the same status, whether the sugar pill have negative impact on the healing process of the diseases, and whether the use of antibiotic will cause some side effects. Therefore, if the argument has included the factors discussed above, it would be more thorough and logically acceptable.