While the Gompertz distribution is often fitted to lifespan data, testing whetherthe fit satisfies theoretical criteria is being neglected. Here four goodness-of-fit measures- the Anderson-Darling statistic, the correlation coefficient test, a statistic using moments and a nested test against the generalized extreme value distributions, are discussed. Along with an application to laboratory rat data, critical values calculated by the empirical distribution of the test statistics are also presented