Appendicitis (Inflammation Of The Appendix) Is Potentially Fatal GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

Appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix) is potentially fatal; consequently, patients with symptoms strongly suggesting appendicitis almost always have their appendix removed. The appropriate surgery is low-risk but performed unnecessarily in about 20 percent of all cases. A newly developed internal scan for appendicitis is highly accurate, producing two misdiagnoses for every 98 correct diagnoses. Clearly, using this test, doctors can largely avoid unnecessary removals of the appendix without, however, performing any fewer necessary ones than before, since __________.

(A) the patients who are correctly diagnosed with this test as not having appendicitis invariably have medical conditions that are much less serious than appendicitis
(B) the misdiagnoses produced by this test are always instances of attributing appendicitis to someone who does not, in fact, have it
(C) all of the patients who are diagnosed with this test as having appendicitis do, in fact, have appendicitis
(D) every patient who is diagnosed with this test as having appendicitis has more than one of the symptoms generally associated with appendicitis
(E) the only patients who are misdiagnosed using this test are patients who lack one or more of the symptoms that are generally associated with appendicitis

“Appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix) is potentially fatal” - is a GMAT question about critical thinking. A candidate may choose to either find evidence that would undermine the argument or present an argument that is illogical in order to respond to the question. The GMAT critical reasoning gauges a candidate's aptitude for logic and analysis. Candidates must identify the argument's advantages and disadvantages as well as its logical flaws for this topic. Out of the 36 GMAT verbal questions, 10–13 critical reasoning questions are found.

Answer: (B)
Explanation: Due to the potentially fatal nature of appendicitis, patients who show symptoms that strongly suggest the condition almost always have their appendix removed. In about 20% of cases, the necessary surgery is low-risk but goes unnecessarily. An internal scan for appendicitis that has just been developed is very accurate, with only two incorrect diagnoses being made out of every 98. It is obvious that using this test, doctors can largely avoid performing unnecessary appendix removals while still performing the same number of necessary ones as before since......

Using the new test, doctors can essentially cut back on unnecessary operations but cannot avoid those that are still necessary. Consequently, a false negative diagnosis will always result in a Positive result. The doctors will need to make more removals if it is the other way around, with false positive cases.

Let's examine each choice in turn to determine which one best logically completes the passage.

Option – A: Incorrect
It states that the medical conditions that are almost always much less serious than appendicitis are present in patients who are correctly diagnosed with this test as not having appendicitis. Given that we are not discussing other medical conditions, this is outside of our scope. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – B: Correct
It states that all incorrect diagnoses made using this test involve attributing appendicitis to someone who does not actually have it. As mentioned above, this is correct.

Option – C: Incorrect
According to this, appendicitis is present in all patients who had the test's appendicitis diagnosis. Nothing is said about the incorrect diagnosis. The number of removals required will increase if the misdiagnosis is false positive. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – D: Incorrect
According to this, every patient who undergoes this test and is determined to have appendicitis exhibits multiple symptoms. We are not discussing the signs and symptoms of appendicitis. Therefore this option is ruled out.

Option – E: Incorrect
It states that only patients who don't exhibit one or more of the symptoms that are typically associated with appendicitis are misdiagnosed using this test. It doesn't explain why doctors can perform pointless removals. Therefore this option is ruled out.

From the above explanations, it is clear that the second option is the right answer.

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