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  3. Many of the nation’s top-ranked medical centers employ some of the same advertising techniques doctors often criticize drug comp

Many of the nation’s top-ranked medical centers employ some of the same advertising techniques doctors often criticize drug comp

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问题     Many of the nation’s top-ranked medical centers employ some of the same advertising techniques doctors often criticize drug companies for concealing risks and playing on fear, vanity and other emotions to attract patients, a study found. The study of newspaper ads by 17 top-rated university medical centers highlights the conflict between serving public health and making money. Some ads, especially those bragging specific services, might create a sense of need in otherwise healthy patients and " seem to put the financial interests of the academic medical center ahead of the best interests of the patients".
    Hospital officials defended their ads as fair, ethically sound and necessary in a competitive market. The centers studied were on U. S. News & World Report’s 2002 honor roll of the nation’ s best hospitals. Of 122 ads designed to attract patients and published in newspapers in 2002, 21 promoted specific services, including Botox anti-wrinkle injections and laser eye surgery. Only one of the 21 ads mentioned the risks. Most of the 122 ads—62 percent—used an emotional appeal to attract patients. One third used slogans focusing on technology, fostering a misperception that high-tech medicine is always better. " As a result, patients may be given false hopes and unrealistic expectations," the researchers said.
    As leading sources for specialized medical care, training and innovation, academic medical centers were selected " because we thought they would be the best-case scenario," said lead author Dr. Robin Larson, a researcher at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt. "We thought if we find problems there, we, would assume that they’ re only worse" at community hospitals. University medical centers generally are not-for-profit but still face financial pressures to attract patients and stay afloat. Hospital advertising began about 20 years ago and grew as managed care increased competition among hospitals. The authors said it has risen among academic medical centers in the past decade.
    Johns Hopkins spokeswoman Elaine Freeman said the study highlights an important point that academic medical centers need to be sensitive to conflicts between money and altruism. But Freeman said that advertising helps educate the public and that Hopkins has a review process to make sure, its ads are fair and balanced. Vanderbilt spokesman Joel Lee also said his hospital’s ads are ethical, including the one featuring spilled coffee. He said that the ad was intended to create awareness about women’s heart attack symptoms differing from men’ s. University of Chicago Hospitals’ spokeswomen Catherine Gian-aro said: " If any institution or company didn’ t remain economically viable, they wouldn’ t be able to serve the public health. "
    American Hospital Association spokesman Rick Wade said that advertising is a necessity for hospitals , and that appealing to emotion is inherent in advertising. According to AHA guidelines, emotion-evoking ads are acceptable if they maintain "a proper sensitivity" toward vulnerable patients, and are fair and accurate. The guidelines also frown on ads for risky procedures that do not disclose the risks.  
Defenders of the ads seem to suggest that ______.
选项 A、it is unethical to hide risks in the medicines advertised
B、there is nothing wrong with the economic motive of the ads
C、consuming too much coffee may lead to heart attack symptoms
D、competition should be encouraged among the best hospitals
答案B
解析 推理题。第四段提到一些医院为广告所做的辩护。例如，在Elaine freeman看来，他们的广告在经济利益和公共利益之间保持了平衡；Catherine Gianaro也指出，医院需要一定的经济来源才能维系下去，否则就无法服务大众。故B符合题意，为正确选项。
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