Joe is a 75-year-old man who is right-handed and was told in the past by his internist that he had an irregular heartbeat. Unfortunately, Joe decided that he didn’t wish to learn anything further about this condition, so he didn’t return to this physician, and it remained untreated. One morning, he awoke to find that his face drooped on the right side, and that he couldn’t move his right arm or right leg. When he tried to call an ambulance for help, he had a great deal of difficulty communicating with the operator because his speech was slurred, nonfluent, and missing some pronouns. The call was traced by the police, and an ambulance arrived at his house and brought him to an emergency room. A neurologist was called to see Joe in the emergency room. When he listened to Joe’s heart, he detected an irregular heartbeat. It was very difficult to understand Joe’s speech, because it was halting, with a tendency to repeat the same phrases over and over. He had a great deal of difficulty repeating specific sentences given to him by the neurologist, but he was able to follow simple commands, such as: “Touch your right ear with your left hand.” His mouth drooped on the right when he attempted to smile, but his forehead remained symmetric when he wrinkled it. He couldn’t move his right arm at all, but was able to wiggle his right leg a little bit.

With which hand does Joe most likely write?

a. Right

b. Left

c. Ambidextrous (both)

d. Cannot be determined