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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. What is causing Patrick excess suffering?

2. What do Fran and Carey begin to worry about, as the weeks go on?

3. What does the hospital do for Fran?

4. Who is Virginia Lennox?

5. When does the ethics committee usually meet?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is attending the meeting at the beginning of Chapter 3?

2. At the end of Chapter 7, what does the Ethics Committee decide regarding Patrick?

3. Why does Teresa feel that her son is happy?

4. What question is the Committee facing in Chapter 1?

5. Who is Virginia Lennox?

6. What is Teresa's family situation?

7. Why do Fran and Carey want to take Taylor off of the ventilator?

8. How do the Poarches feel about the doctor they receive when they first arrive at Hermann?

9. Why did Armando leave Fort Worth to go to Madisonville?

10. What is the situation of the Poarch family at the end of Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Most of the patients Belkin discusses are poor, and cannot afford their medical care. What do you think a hospital should be required to do in situations when people cannot afford their own care? Should the hospitals be responsible for giving people all of the care they need, regardless of the cost, and give the uninsured equal treatment? Or should there be a limit to what hospitals are required to provide, due to financial limitations? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 2

The Ethics Committee at Hermann is a very important part of the hospital's function. Why is their job so important? What would happen to the functioning of the hospital, if the Ethics Committee did not exist? What would the doctors have to do differently? How does the Ethics Committee help to comfort patients' families when they have to make difficult decisions? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

Essay Topic 3

Sometimes, as in Taylor's case, the life support that keeps a patient alive also damages their health. What do you think should be done in such a case? At what point do the risks of the treatment outweigh the benefits? How can this be decided? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text to support your thesis.

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