argument51【challenge yourself小组】第五次作业

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argument51【challenge yourself小组】第五次作业
"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."
提纲：
1，  首先作者没有证明对比试验中，两组人是否都是严重患者，其健康条件是否相同，是否是随机分配
2，  没有排出干扰因素，有可能是第一组的医生手段更高明而不是抗生素其作用
3，  既是抗生素对严重患者有效也不能证明所有患者都必须使用，有些患者不会有二次感染的情况，有些患者会有过敏反应


In the argument, the author recommends that all the patients diagnosed with muscle strain should be advised to tale antibiotics as a part of treatment, for the doctors has prove that the secondary infections keep patients from healing after severe muscle strain by studying two groups of patients, one group took antibiotics while the other one had sugar pills though they thought they were taking antibiotics. Unfortunately the argument suffers from fallacies in the comparison experiment.

To begin with, the fundamental problem is that the author overlooks to inform us about the health conditions about the patients before the experiment. First, the author fails to provide the evidence that all the patients participating in the experiment all suffers from the severe muscle strain and secondary infection. Secondly, the author also fails to prove the patient are divided into two groups randomly, perhaps the patients in the first group are younger and stronger than the second group, as a result their average recuperation time is 40% quicker than expected while the second group were healed much slower. Any of the scenarios, if possible, will undermine the credibility of the conclusion that secondary infections keep patients from healing after severe muscle strain and the utility of antibiotics will help with the treatment.

In addition, the first group was treated by a doctor major in sports medicine and took antibiotics; the second group was treated b a general physician and took sugar pills instead but they thought they were taking antibiotics. The author cannot convince me that the antibiotics are effective in the accelerating the recuperation, for the treatment group and the control group had been treated in different conditions, for example, the different doctors. Dr. Newland in the first group, the doctor who specializes in sports medicine maybe know some advanced healing methods and has more experience in treating the muscle strain, while the Dr. Alton, a general physician is not as professional as Dr. Newland about healing muscle strain. Without ruling out the difference in the two groups, the assertion that the antibiotics are effective in the treatment of muscle strain is unjustifiable.

Admittedly, the secondary infection is factor which delays the healing of severe muscle strain and antibiotics should be used in the treatment for severe patients, the single example that the antibiotics is effective in healing the severe muscle strain is insufficient to draw the general conclusion about all patients. It is possible that the common muscle strain patients do not suffers from the problem of secondary infection and need not antibiotics for healing. The author also omits the side effect of antibiotics; a lot of patients may be allergic to it, the utility of antibiotic in all treatment of muscle strain blindlessly is worse than useless. Unless the author can prove the all patients should use antibiotics for the secondary infection, I cannot accept the hasty generalization.

To sum up, the author draws the conclusion unfairly and hastily that the all the patients diagnosed with muscle strain should be advised to tale antibiotics as a part of treatment. To strengthen the argument, it is necessary for the author to provide evidence that all the patients in the experiment are treated in the same conditions and separated into two groups randomly, all the muscle strain patients take the risk of secondary infection and utility of antibiotics is needed and safe.