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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Gawande characterize the trend among geriatrics departments in hospitals?
(a) Mostly closing down.
(b) Closing more than opening.
(c) Opening in more and more hospitals.
(d) No change from the past 30 years.

2. How old was Alice Hobson when she was widowed?
(a) 72.
(b) 41.
(c) 56.
(d) 88.

3. What does Gawande say drives youth to seek their own opportunities as opposed to caring for their elders?
(a) Political conflict.
(b) Famine.
(c) Emigration.
(d) Prosperity.

4. What was Gawande’s father’s profession?
(a) Engineer.
(b) Executive.
(c) Urologist.
(d) Teacher.

5. What view does Gawande ultimately take, on the question of why we age?
(a) Things are not well cared for.
(b) Things shut down.
(c) Things are degraded.
(d) Things break down.

6. When does Gawande say he started to write about medical issues?
(a) In college.
(b) First year of medical school.
(c) During a sabbatical.
(d) Surgical residency.

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

8. What does Gawande say made Alice Hobson unhappy with her assisted living facility?
(a) Being surrounded by old people.
(b) The smelly food.
(c) The rigid schedule.
(d) The loss of autonomy.

9. What does Gawande say has increased along with our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying?
(a) The sterility family members feel in the face of their loved ones dying.
(b) The cruelty we inflict on people.
(c) The indifference caretakers can feel.
(d) The compassion doctors can show.

10. 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 ends abruptly.
(b) A high line that runs flat then falls quickly.
(c) A series of minor decreases in a slow decline toward death.
(d) A series of dips followed by recoveries that approach the horizontal axis of death.

11. When were retirement communities popularized in the U.S.?
(a) 1980s.
(b) 1960s.
(c) 1970s.
(d) 1950s.

12. What was Lazaroff’s response to Gawande’s insistence?
(a) He said that he trusted in God to protect him.
(b) He said he was looking forward to seeing his wife in heaven.
(c) He said that he trusted the doctors.
(d) He became adamant about doing everything.

13. How does Gawande say Philip Roth characterizes old age?
(a) A series of dislocations.
(b) A warm bath.
(c) A massacre.
(d) A fuzzy puzzle.

14. Where does Gawande say Lou Sanders had grown up?
(a) Cleveland.
(b) Chicago.
(c) Boston.
(d) Baltimore.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Lou Sanders’ daughter Shelley compare him to when he comes to live with her and her family?

2. What does Gawande say is the greatest threat elderly people face?

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

4. What does Gawande say he felt about the dead people who showed up in his dreams?

5. By what factor does Gawande say the cost of living in a nursing home exceeds the cost of living in an assisted living facility?

(see the answer keys)

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