Q12

[lhermary]

I have a bone to pick with this question. I got it right using the process of elimination.

The only mention of female patients treated by male doctors (that I can see) is lines 36-38. The word customary can be used in two different ways here. Customary could mean traditional (male doctors were not traditionally used in these roles) or it could mean commonly practised (male doctors were not commonly used for female patients). All line 36-38 say is that female doctors were preferred, not that they were used any more frequently.

Help

Thanks

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

The question asks for something that is suggested in the passage about medical practices in late-nineteenth century Canton, China. You are correct to point to lines 36-38, but we also see evidence for answer choice (D) in lines 45-53. Although, there is probably enough information in lines 36-38 to support answer choice (D).

The author refers to the "accepted conventions of female modesty" that would have been offended by a woman patient seeing a male doctor in order to suggest that this practice was not customary. In lines 45-53 we see that once female doctors became more available that there were large increases in female patients that otherwise would not have sought treatment.

Incorrect Answers

(A) is out of scope. The passage never discusses suspicion of non-Chinese medical practices.
(B) is out of scope. The passage does not compare the amount of treatment administered at home vs. in hospitals.
(C) is unsupported. The passage does discuss women physicians earning independent incomes, but that does not imply they donated a portion of that income to the maintenance of their extended families.
(E) is contradicted. The passage supports the opposite claim that women were not given equal opportunities as men (lines 53-56).