It became a battle that, in the end, tore this family apart. Marion's situation is a symptom of a much larger problem. A surprisingly high number of advance directives are never carried out. Family disagreements, just like the one the Marion family went through. She says many doctors also have their own reasons for ignoring advance directives.
Nobody knows where it is or what it says.
It's not in the medical chart where it belongs. The University of North Carolina hospitals are among a growing number of medical centers working to change that. The hospital now requires that nurses put prominent red stickers like this one on patients' medical charts if they have a living will. Changes like those being made at the University of North Carolina could one day be the law, all across the country. A bill, now pending in Congress, would strengthen advance directives, to help ensure they're not ignored.