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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. What value did Thomas espouse in running his farm?
(a) Efficiency.
(b) Self-reliance.
(c) Stewardship.
(d) Sustainability.

2. What argument does Gawande give for preventing people from committing suicide?
(a) People do not always know their desires.
(b) Pain is often temporary.
(c) Society has an interest in keeping people on board.
(d) Society knows better than the individual.

3. What does Gawande say the surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic recommended for his father’s tumor?
(a) Treatment with radiation.
(b) Palliative surgery.
(c) Immediate operation.
(d) Waiting and watching.

4. How does Gawande say his father found peace and gave him and the other around him peace as well?
(a) By saying what he wanted so his desires could be honored.
(b) By leaving money to those after him.
(c) By having performed good works as a member of his society.
(d) By deciding to forego heroic treatments.

5. What is a pandit?
(a) A holy man.
(b) A professional mourner.
(c) A funeral guide.
(d) A boatman.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Gawande say is the problem with courage?

2. How does Gawande characterize the operation he ultimately performed on Jewel Douglas?

3. What did Gawande do with the herbs and medicine and morsels of food he took with him into the river?

4. What was the third place Gawande’s father wanted his ashes scattered?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What technique does Atul Gawande learn from a palliative care physician, and use with Jewel Douglass?

2. What does Daniel Kahneman’s research tell Gawande about painful experiences?

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

4. How does Gawande describe what the real job of people in medicine should be?

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

6. What are the instructions Gawande’s father left, for the disposal of his remains?

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

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

9. What was Bill Thomas’ idea for bringing more self-reliance to the residents of Chase Memorial?

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

(see the answer keys)

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