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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. Where does Gawande say he witnessed the most hellish conditions of his life?
(a) A nursing home in the American South.
(b) An elder home in India.
(c) An insane asylum in Belgium.
(d) A prison in Portugal.

2. By what age does Gawande say most people have functional dementia?
(a) 75.
(b) 85.
(c) 65.
(d) 70.

3. Which finger does Gawande say has 40% of the hand’s muscles?
(a) The pinky finger.
(b) The middle finger.
(c) The pointer finger.
(d) The thumb.

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

5. What system did the U.S. join Europe in implementing in 1935?
(a) The New Deal.
(b) Medicare.
(c) Medicaid.
(d) Social Security.

Short Answer Questions

1. When did Mabel Nassau conduct the study of elderly in Greenwich Village, that Gawande cites?

2. What does Gawande say was the concept Wilson incorporated in her assisted living facility idea?

3. When does Gawande say Lou Sanders became a widower?

4. When were retirement communities popularized in the U.S.?

5. What does Gawande say has increased along with our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is rectangularization, and how does it affect society?

2. What perspective does Gawande’s father offer on Alice Hobson’s aging process?

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

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

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

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

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

8. What does Gawande say about the theory that we just “fall apart” as we age?

9. How does Lou Sanders’ story mark a development of Gawande’s argument in Being Mortal?

10. What events led to Alice Hobson saying “I’m ready” to her son, and then dying?

(see the answer keys)

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