Reading Comprehension

PT147 · S3 · P3 · Q18 Theoretical vs. Clinical Equipoise

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The following passage is based on an article published in 1987.

Topic

Clinical vs. Theoretical Equipoise

Framework

Old vs. New / Problem vs. Solution

Main Point

OLD/PROBLEM -- theoretical equipoise, which holds that physicians can't take place in a drug trial comparing two different treatments unless they are equally confident in both options.

NEW/SOLUTION -- clinical equipoise is a more attainable, but still sufficiently robust, standard that means as long as there's good-faith dissension within the medical community (i.e. the medical community is still agnostic about which is the better treatment), then physicians have no ethical qualms participating in the comparative drug trail.

Summary

P1 - Background of Old

Author explains physicians' ethical standard (prescribe best treatment) and application of that standard to the thorny issue of comparative drug trials. Introduces the concept of theoretical equipoise.

P2 - The Old way is a Problem

The author explains the ways in which theoretical equipoise sets too high a bar, one that would make it too hard to start a drug trial or to complete one, once early evidence starts trickling in.

P3 - The New Solution

The author outlines what clinical equipoise would be, a standard that would mean an individual physician can have a preferred treatment in a comparative drug trial as long as the broader medical community has not yet registered a consensus on a preferred treatment.

P4 - Implications of New/Solution

The author takes a victory lap explaining how clinical equipoise hits that Goldilocks spot of just ethical enough, just practical enough.

18.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

  1. The ethical requirement that physicians

    Wrong Emphasis: not about Solution

    In a Problem / Solution passage, we would expect if not demand that the main point answer's main clause is naming the solution. This answer doesn't say anything about clinical equipoise.

    7% picked this

  2. Medical research conducted through comparative

    Wrong Emphasis: not about Solution

    In a Problem / Solution passage, we would expect if not demand that the main point answer's main clause is naming the solution. This answer doesn't say anything about clinical equipoise. This answer just sounds like an Opinion the author would hold. It feels like a background assumption or motivation of the person who wrote this passage.

    8% picked this

  3. It is sometimes ethically acceptable

    Wrong Emphasis: not about Solution

    In a Problem / Solution passage, we would expect if not demand that the main point answer's main clause is naming the solution. This answer doesn't say anything about clinical equipoise. This answer also sounds like an Opinion the author would hold. It feels like a background assumption of the person who wrote this passage.

    2% picked this

  4. Correct

    Clinical equipoise should be adopted

    Why this is right

    Strangely, this is the only answer that mentioned the author's Solution / Recommendation: clinical equipoise. If an author wrote a passage to recommend a solution to a problem, then the one-sentence that the author would want you to know ... her main point .... would be "Here is my recommendation."

    Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    81% picked this

  5. Even though comparative clinical trials

    Wrong Emphasis: not about Solution

    In a Problem / Solution passage, we would expect if not demand that the main point answer's main clause is naming the solution. This answer doesn't say anything about clinical equipoise. This answer again sounds like an Opinion the author would hold. It feels like a background assumption of the person who wrote this passage.

    2% picked this

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