View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Dave Galloway say he does not want to take his pain medication when his cancer is troubling him?
(a) He says that it feels like a defeat.
(b) He says that it makes him depressed.
(c) He says that it takes him from his wife and child.
(d) He says that it makes him panic to be so close to death.

2. How does Gawande characterize his faith in Hinduism?
(a) He says that he is practical, and it does not matter what he believes if he follows the rites.
(b) He says that he is a hostile skeptic.
(c) He says that he is not much of a believer.
(d) He says that he is a fervent believer.

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

4. What is the typical requirement for a patient to enter hospice care?
(a) A life expectancy under six months.
(b) Chronic pain.
(c) Running out of private funding for a nursing home.
(d) A terminal diagnosis.

5. What does Gawande say doctors have to do as people get closer to death?
(a) Weigh the cost effectiveness of each treatment.
(b) Consider the effect of treatment on their family units.
(c) Resist the urge to toy with their health.
(d) Find the most drastic cures and treatments.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does Gawande say being mortal is about?

3. What was the effect of Thomas’ first project?

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

5. How often does Gawande say he thought about elderly patients before the issue of geriatrics became an interest for him?

Short Essay Questions

1. What effect did Thomas’ changes have on the residents?

2. What are the priorities Gawande says people have, at the end of their lives, that go beyond “prolonging their lives” (155)?

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

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

5. How does Gawande characterize his daughter’s piano teacher Peg Bachelder’s final days?

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

7. What does Sara Monopoli’s story illustrate?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,175 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample