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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Lou Sanders’ daughter Shelley compare him to when he comes to live with her and her family?
(a) A nervous girl making new friends.
(b) A cornered old turtle.
(c) A restless dog that cannot settle.
(d) A kid getting on the bus.

2. When does Gawande say Keren Wilson founded the first assisted living facility?
(a) 1980.
(b) 1988.
(c) 1962.
(d) 1976.

3. What was the event that triggered a readjustment in Felix Silverstone’s life?
(a) His wife lost her vision.
(b) He had a heart attack.
(c) His wife’s eardrum burst.
(d) He was diagnosed with cancer.

4. How does Gawande characterize both Lazaroff and the doctors?
(a) Miserable.
(b) Desperate.
(c) Delusional.
(d) Faithful.

5. What does Gawande say he tried to impress on Lazaroff?
(a) The likelihood the treatment would fail.
(b) The risks of surgery.
(c) The inevitability of death.
(d) The chance of paralysis after surgery.

6. How does Gawande characterize the change over time in blood vessels, joints and the valves of the heart?
(a) Softening.
(b) Thinning.
(c) Weakening.
(d) Stiffening.

7. What kind of system does Gawande compare human bodies to?
(a) Kitchen appliances.
(b) Nuclear power plants.
(c) Automobiles.
(d) Wind-up toys.

8. What does Gawande say life expectancy was in the Roman Empire?
(a) 56.
(b) 32.
(c) 28.
(d) 48.

9. How does Gawande characterize the “newest view” about why we age (32)?
(a) Aging is environmentally determined.
(b) Aging is based on economic class.
(c) Aging is a sum of wear and tear.
(d) Aging is genetically programmed.

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

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

12. How does Gawande characterize the state of the medical profession in the face of scientific advances that prolonged life and made dying a medical decision?
(a) Leading by example.
(b) Partners.
(c) Reactive.
(d) Unprepared.

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

14. What arrangement did Felix have to make when he brought Bella back home from the nursing home?
(a) He had to return to practicing medicine to pay for her care.
(b) He invited his daughters to live at home to help him.
(c) He hired an army of nurses and aides.
(d) He had to have contractors make modifications of their home.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gawande say the nursing homes Wilson looked at were designed for?

2. By what margin does Gawande say costs came down in Keren Wilson’s assisted living facility?

3. What functions are affected by this first shrinking of the brain?

4. Which finger does Gawande say has 40% of the hand’s muscles?

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

(see the answer keys)

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