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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. How does Gawande characterize family expectations, in regard to caring for elders?
(a) Business.
(b) Sacred obligation.
(c) Duty.
(d) Shackles.

3. 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) Unprepared.
(c) Reactive.
(d) Partners.

4. What does Gawande say Montaigne said about dying of old age?
(a) It is the cruelest form of dying.
(b) It is the extremest form of dying.
(c) It is the most natural form of dying.
(d) It is the kindest form of dying.

5. What functions are affected by this first shrinking of the brain?
(a) Language.
(b) Abstract thinking.
(c) Judgment.
(d) Planning.

Short Answer Questions

1. By what age does Gawande say most people have functional dementia?

2. What system did the U.S. join Europe in implementing in 1935?

3. How does Gawande characterize the trend among geriatrics departments in hospitals?

4. When does Gawande say Keren Wilson founded the first assisted living facility?

5. What was Lazaroff’s response to Gawande’s insistence?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Lou Sanders’ experience of assisted living like?

2. When did the experience of aging and dying come home for Gawande?

3. What are the challenges Gawande describes in Alice Hobson’s declining health?

4. How does Gawande describe the transition from traditional forms of elder care to the (failing) modern forms of care?

5. What critique does Gawande make of his colleagues in the medical field?

6. How does Gawande characterize the future of geriatrics as a field?

7. What is the triumph in the story of Felix and Bella Silverstone?

8. How does Gawande describe his exposure to training about mortality in medical school?

9. What happened to Keren Wilson’s vision of assisted living facilities, as the idea took off?

10. How does Gawande describe the development of this problem in medicine?

(see the answer keys)

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