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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. For how many years have doctors been performing autopsies?

2. By 2003, how many more patients were expected to have gastric-bypass surgery than did in 1999?

3. During an all-night interview, how many children did Noe confess she had suffocated?

4. What percent of people who have necrotizing fasciitis die?

5. How much did Caselli weigh before the surgery?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Christine Drury's first job at Channel 13 News in Indianapolis?

2. When Gawande was seeing patients with a surgery professor, what words surprised him?

3. What are the dangers of surgery for a morbidly obese person?

4. What did the surgery involve that Drury had in order to stop blushing?

5. At the turn of the century, how did prominent physicians begin to win popular support for the practice of autopsy?

6. What may cause babies to die from SIDS?

7. What happened to the babies born to Marie Noe?

8. What physical changes did Drury experience after her surgery to stop blushing?

9. Describe Amy Fitzgerald's first experience with nausea during her pregnancy.

10. What sometimes happens to those who decide not to undergo gastric-bypass surgery even if they qualify?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the two meanings of the title Complications. Use examples from the book.

Essay Topic 2

Explain what Gawande means when he says that medicine is a strange and disturbing business. Use examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

Using examples from Complications, argue whether the belief in superstitions is anecdotal or scientific.

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