“Don’t resuscitate this patient; he has a living will,” the nurse told Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy, handing her a document.

Williams-Murphy looked at the sheet bearing the signature of the unconscious 78-year-old man, who’d been rushed from a nursing home to the emergency room. “Do everything possible,” it read, with a check approving cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Misunderstandings involving documents meant to guide end-of-life decision making are surprisingly common.  Read a new article from managedhealthcareconnect.com that talks about this potential for patient harm:

https://www.managedhealthcareconnect.com/content/advance-directive-mix-ups-end-life?hmpid=ZXJpY2EuaG9sbWFuQGhlYWx0aGNhcHVzYS5jb20=