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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 6 — Letting Go.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Gawande say we do not have “the kind of old age” our grandfathers had (20)?
(a) Because we have alienated generations of youth.
(b) Because our families have been broken by emigration.
(c) Because we cannot afford them.
(d) Because we do not want them.

2. What made the Harry Truman Gawande describes a hero in his townspeople’s eyes?
(a) He defied the odds and survived a deadly cancer.
(b) He saved his neighbors from the fallout when Mt. Saint Helens erupted.
(c) He used being-buried-by-a-volcano as a retirement plan.
(d) He weathered out the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens.

3. How many of the 100 people Mabel Nassau studied were able to support themselves?
(a) 65.
(b) 27.
(c) 42.
(d) 9.

4. How does Gawande characterize the decline of health for people with “chronic illnesses—emphysema, liver disease, and congestive heart failure”?
(a) A high line that runs flat then falls quickly.
(b) A high line that ends abruptly.
(c) A series of dips followed by recoveries that approach the horizontal axis of death.
(d) A series of minor decreases in a slow decline toward death.

5. What does Gawande say Ilych wanted?
(a) To be pitied.
(b) To be remembered.
(c) To be lionized.
(d) To be celebrated.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Gawande characterize both Lazaroff and the doctors?

2. What factor correlated with the greatest inaccuracies when doctors estimated their patients’ survival times?

3. How does Gawande characterize the corpse he was given to work with, his first semester of medical school?

4. How did Alice Hobson lose her car?

5. How does Gawande characterize Felix’ feelings when his wife dies?

(see the answer key)

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