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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. How does Gawande characterize the onset of treatment for his father’s tumor?
(a) As a test for what he had learned about mortality.
(b) As a tragedy that struck too early.
(c) As a punishment for not having taken better care of his father.
(d) As an opportunity to practice what he had learned to preach.

2. In what way do doctors “inflict deep gouges at the end of people’s lives,” in Gawande’s opinion?
(a) By inflicting needless treatments.
(b) By allowing the most fearful voices to dominate discussions about mortality.
(c) By denying the importance of the dying role.
(d) By drugging people so that they do not have their own experiences.

3. What other pets did Chase Memorial also eventually adopt?
(a) Horses.
(b) Ducks.
(c) Pigs.
(d) Rabbits.

4. What does Gawande say his father’s chance of being paralyzed by surgery were?
(a) 1 in 4.
(b) 1 in 10.
(c) 1 in 20.
(d) 1 in 6

5. How many oncologists does Gawande admit to providing treatments they know will not work?
(a) 50%.
(b) 60%.
(c) 30%.
(d) 40%.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Whose story does Gawande say is “going global” (192)?

3. What does Gawande say the surgeon at his hospital recommended for his father’s tumor?

4. What did Gawande’s mother want for her husband, when he was dying?

5. What was Sara Monopoli’s strategy for making treatment decisions?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the cause that Gawande says Josiah Royce described as keeping people engaged in their lives?

2. How does Gawande say the western medical model is spreading throughout the world?

3. What does Gawande say goes into a “comfort pack” (162)?

4. What does Gawande say are the advantages of the New Bridge on the Charles retirement community?

5. How does Gawande say that end-of-life care costs affect the American medical system?

6. How do Gawande’s father’s two doctors approach his condition differently?

7. In the metaphor of death as the enemy, which general’s philosophy does Gawande say patients should want to emulate?

8. What stance does Gawande take on the concept of “assisted suicide” (243)?

9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Gawande ending on a personal note?

10. What are the three stages Gawande describes in medical development countries go through?

(see the answer keys)

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