Instructor Resource

Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Aging Concepts and Controversies 9th Edition Moody
Sasser 1506328008 9781506328003
Full download at:
Test bank:
https://testbankpack.com/p/test-bank-for-aging-concepts-and-controversies-
9th-edition-moody-sasser-1506328008-9781506328003/

Controversy 7: Should People Have the Choice to End Their

Lives?
Test Bank

Multiple Choice
1. “Assisted suicide” is defined as:
a. A deliberate intervention to end a patient’s life
b. Not doing something, such as withdrawing life support, that results in death
c. A doctor or family member actively provides the means or carries out the instructions
required for an individual to end his or her life
d. Euthanasia
e. None of the above
Ans: c
Answer Location: Should People have the Choice to End Their Lives?
Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Older adults make up around 14.5% of the U.S. population but account for what
percentage of suicides?
a. About 10%
b. Almost 16%
c. Almost 25%
d. None of the above
Ans: b
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following are predictors of suicide?

a. Intolerable psychological pain and frustration
b. A feeling of hopelessness or helplessness

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Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
c. Expressing the intent to kill oneself
d. A and B are true
e. All of the above
Ans: e
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Which state was the first in the United States to make physician-assisted suicide legal?
a. Hawaii
b. Massachusetts
c. Oregon
d. All of the above
e. A and B above
Ans: c
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Among the patients studied by Pearlman and Starks, the pursuit of physician-assisted
death was motivated by all of the following factors except:
a. Illness-related experiences
b. Threat to the person’s sense of self
c. Depression
d. Fears about the future
e. None of the above
Ans: c
Answer Location: Reading 30: Factors Motivating Physician-Assisted Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

6. McKhann prefers to use which of the following terms to describe the person who
wishes to die and asks for help?
a. Assisted suicide
b. Active euthanasia
c. Physician-assisted dying
d. Passive euthanasia
e. None of the above
Ans: c
Answer Location: Reading 31: A Time to Die
Difficulty Level: Medium

7. According to McKhann, which of the following reflect public concerns about assisted
dying?
a. The possibility of medical error
b. The potential for abuse
c. The roles played by financial interests in prolonging or shortening life
d. The possibility of a “slippery slope” down a path of moral decay
e. All of the above

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Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Ans: e
Answer Location: Reading 31: A Time to Die
Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which states in addition to Oregon have passed laws permitting physician-assisted

dying?
a. Washington
b. Vermont
c. California
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
Ans: d
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Medium

9. According to Kass, which of the following reasons are used to support physician-
assisted death?
a. The right to control one’s body and life; freedom and autonomy
b. When the patient’s life is deemed no longer worth living, usually because of great pain,
a terminal condition, an irreversible coma, advanced senility, or extreme degradation
c. Once a patient is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the physician is no longer obligated
to heal
d. All of the above
e. A and B above
Ans: e
Answer Location: Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money
Difficulty Level: Hard

10. According to Kass, the reasons that are advanced to support physician-assisted death
represent which school(s) of medical ethics?
a. The school of autonomy
b. The school of general benevolence and compassion
c. The school of professing the art of healing
d. A and B
Ans: d
Answer Location: Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money
Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False
1. There are differences in the rates of diagnosis and treatment for depression for
community dwelling older adults who are members of ethnic minority groups.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

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Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
2. Among older persons, clinical depression is the most important cause of suicide.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Most older suicide victims live alone.

Ans: F
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Older people who commit suicide are more likely to have recently visited their primary
health care provider than to have received mental health services.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Suicide rates rise with advancing age for women but not for men.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The first important “right-to-die” law was passed with the Oregon Death with Dignity
Act.
Ans: F
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Hard

7. U.S. common law holds that people have a right to accept or reject medical treatment.
Ans: T
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Termination of life-sustaining treatment is not homicide, suicide, or assisted suicide

according to court decisions.
Ans: T
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Recent polls by Harris and Gallup reveal that a majority of people believe that adults
diagnosed with terminal illnesses should not have a right to a peaceful death through
medical means.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Outlook for the Future
Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The majority of older people do not feel sad or unhappy most of the time.

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Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Ans: T
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Pearlman and Starks argue that health care providers can best serve patients by
focusing on the single factor motivating them to seek physician-assisted death.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Reading 30: Implications for End-of-Life Care
Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Because of the wish to control the timing and circumstance of one’s death, some
dying patients will continue to desire assisted death even if they are receiving excellent
palliative end-of-life care.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Reading 30: Fears About the Future
Difficulty Level: Hard

13. Kass argues that defining categories of “euthanizable” people is a fairly easy and
straightforward task.
Ans: F
Answer Location: Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money
Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Kass argues that from the health care provider’s perspective, the duty to make whole
and to heal can never be compatible with intentionally killing the patient.
Ans: T
Answer Location: Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money
Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay
1. Why is depression difficult to diagnose in older adults?
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Depression and Suicide
Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is the Patient Self-Determination Act and how has it assisted people in making
end-of-life decisions?
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”
Difficulty Level: Medium

3. In your opinion, should physician-assisted suicide be legalized? Explain.

Ans: Varies
Answer Location: The “Right to Die”; Reading 30: Why Do People Seek Physician-
Assisted Death?

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Moody, Aging, 9e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Why do some people seek physician-assisted death? How can clinicians best
understand older persons’ complex experiences around serious illness, dying and death?
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Reading 30: Why Do People Seek Physician-Assisted Death?
Difficulty Level: Hard

5. Explain McKhann’s arguments in favor of physician-assisted dying. Do you agree or

disagree with McKhann? Explain.
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Reading 31: A Time to Die
Difficulty Level: Hard

6. In your judgment, in Aunty’s story, is Woodman arguing in favor of or against

physician-assisted death? Explain.
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Reading 32: Aunty’s Story
Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Describe how “Aunty’s” feelings about physician-assisted death changed over time.
What makes these decisions complicated for patients, families, and health care providers?
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Reading 32: Aunty’s Story
Difficulty Level: Medium

8. How would legalized mercy killing affect the doctor-patient relationship, according to
Kass? Do you agree or disagree with his position? Explain.
Ans: Varies
Answer Location: Reading 33: Neither for Love nor Money
Difficulty Level: Hard