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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3 — Dependence.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Gawande characterize the similarity between nursing homes and prisons?
(a) They are both state-run.
(b) They are both punitive.
(c) They both house mostly poor people.
(d) They are both total institutions.

2. According to James Vaupel’s research, how much of your parents’ lifespans determines your own?
(a) 25%.
(b) 7%.
(c) 42%.
(d) 3%.

3. What does Gawande say is the biggest difference between how people age today and how they used to age?
(a) They used to be cared for in multi-generational systems.
(b) They used to be much more independent.
(c) They used to be much more private.
(d) They used to die much earlier.

4. What does Gawande say tormented Ivan Ilych most?
(a) The impotence of his doctors.
(b) The story that he would just get better.
(c) The lie that he was not really dying.
(d) The indifference his family felt.

5. How does Gawande characterize the plot of a person’s health for most of history?
(a) A series of dips followed by recoveries that approach the horizontal axis of death.
(b) A series of minor decreases in a slow decline toward death.
(c) A high line that runs flat then falls quickly.
(d) A high line that ends abruptly.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the event that triggered a readjustment in Felix Silverstone’s life?

2. Where does Gawande say he witnessed the most hellish conditions of his life?

3. How does Gawande characterize his grandfather Sitaram Gawande’s elder years?

4. What does Gawande say Felix Silverstone’s wife found exasperating about being in a nursing home floor while her bones mended?

5. How does Gawande characterize the decline of health for people with “chronic illnesses—emphysema, liver disease, and congestive heart failure”?

(see the answer key)

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