Averie Singleton

Professor Cinnamon Jenson

Philosophy 1000-009
22 April 2016
Signature Assignment

Insured To Six Feet Under

The source of the argument being critiqued comes from a News Editorial in the
Deseret Newspaper written by an unidentified author. The article is entitled Over
treating the Sick Costly(1) and was published on June 14, 2010.
The unidentified author makes a slippery slope fallacy. Slippery slope fallacies
form a slippery slope of ifthen relationships that are not 100% absolutely certain. They
take the form of valid deductive arguments that lead to a conclusion, following this
formula:
If A > B
Then B > C
Then C >H
However, with a slippery slope fallacy the H represents something extremely
negative, usually something no sane, rightthinking, civilized human being could possibly
support. In a deductive ifthen statement, if A is true, then B must be true.
Slippery slope in a simple definition is a series of events that is hard to stop or
control once it has started that usually leads to worse things. The unintended

consequences are never ending once you start. An example of a slippery slope would be;
if you have never had a soda pop before and one day you drink one, then you will not be
able to stop drinking soda pop and you will be addicted to soda because you made one
decision to drink one once and now its a lost cause.
Thus, with a slippery slope fallacy, we simply cant know for certain whether the
if then statements are true.(2) The editorial focuses on the debate over health care. The
author begins by explaining that much of the debate has been centered on the hardships
of people who are uninsured and/or who have no access to health care. It reads, Medical
overtreatment - unnecessary tests, treatments and worse yet, dangerous side effects of
scans and medications may just be as problematic (as the issue of people who dont
have access to health care). The author then makes the argument that it is worse for the
people who do have health care. Through a series of if-the statements, the conclusion
is reached in which people who have health insurance are at just as much of a risk of
illness and even death as those without health insurance. The argument being presented
is this:
P1- If the insurance and government health care program reimbursement models
continue to encourage the inappropriate use of treatments, medications and screening
tools that can pose a danger to patients then
P2- physicians are poorly paid for spending time with patients and helping them
make choices about their care, thus,
P3- there is considerable financial incentives for delivering certain kinds of care.
Some physicians fear lawsuits which forces them to order tests that may not be medically
necessary but provide evidence that a high standard of care was offered, then,

P4- patients become increasingly demanding of their caregivers and are unwilling
to give their bodies the appropriate amount of time necessary for full recovery from
injury or illness, instead,
P5- they begin demanding surgeries or medication rather than allowing the correct
amount of time fro their bodies to heal, then,
P6- patients undergo repeated unnecessary MRI scans that cant find any
problems, then,
P7- patients are exposed to the most medical radiation in the world, then,
P8- patients got cancer as a result, then,
C- the patients die.
The slippery slope fallacy is bogus because by arguing that insurance and
government health care programs are the reason that people die by using if-then
statements to assert that a very specific event must inevitably follow another without any
dispute for the inevitability of the event in question is ridiculous. Most often, the steps
the author outlines are not backed up with any sound evidence. It is not sound to follow
an argument that proclaims that event X has occurred (or will or might occur) therefore,
event Y will inevitably happen. This kind of argument is fallacious because theres no
reason to believe that one event must inevitably follow another without an argument for
such a claim. In this particular slippery slope fallacy, there are a significant number of
steps between one event and another. There are eight steps outlined, and each step takes
an enormous leap from the previous step.

This particular news editorial from the Deseret News has made a slippery slope
fallacy, and one should not be convinced into thinking those who have health insurance
are in just as bad of shape as those who do not have health insurance.

Bibliography:

1. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700040062/Overtreatingthesickcostly.html
2. http://www.drury.edu/ess/Logic/Informal/Slippery_Slope.html