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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Gawande say the problem of care for the sick and dying will be solved?

2. Where does Gawande say five of the world’s fastest-growing economies are?

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

4. By what factor was the doctors’ average overestimation of people’s survival time inaccurate?

5. By what rate did the death rate decline at Chase, after the introduction of animals?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What does Gawande say was the mistake his father made in his medical care?

4. What was Bill Thomas’ experience prior to starting as the director at the Chase Memorial Nursing Home?

5. How did Bill Thomas’ idea play out?

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

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

8. How did Gawande and his mother differ on the question of how to handle Gawande’s father’s care as death came closer?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How do the problems Gawande describes in health care relate to other problems that are characteristic of American culture? Are American attitudes to health care related to attitudes about climate change? Environmentalism? Labor or environmental regulations? Pick an issue and show how the Americanness is similar or different.

Essay Topic 2

Which character does Gawande connect you with most intensely? Why? What part of the story did you connect with? Which individuals were you least connected to, or even put off by? How does Gawande guide your sympathies in his storytelling?

Essay Topic 3

Write a character sketch of the author based on her style and content. What can we tell about him, based on the choices he makes in terms of description, characterization and information presentation? What values does he hold dear? What are his hopes and fears? What kind of person do you think he is? Anchor your sketch in passages in the book.

(see the answer keys)

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