September 2009 LSAT Section 1 Question 5

Doctor: While a few alternative medicines have dangerous side effects, some, such as many herbs, have been proven sa...

LSATQz on November 5, 2019

Eliminating Question B

Hello, I'm still struggling to determine why B needs to be eliminated. Wouldn't people believing a remedy to be an effective cure result in harm? Is the problem that we need to make too many inferences to make this answer choice work?

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Irina on November 5, 2019

@LSATQz,

Exactly - (B) only tells us that many herbal remedies claim proven effectiveness when its effectiveness is unproven. It is quite a logical leap to conclude that because its unproven, these remedies are indeed ineffective, and people who choose to use these ineffective remedies forego any other remedies resulting in harm. This conclusion required me to make multiple unwarranted inferences. Just because the effectiveness of herbal remedies is unproven, this fact alone has no impact on the validity of the conclusion that these remedies will not harm or might even help the patients.

Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any further questions.