and disagreement that exists between physicians and their patients. The population clearly seeks more control over both their future medical care and also the method, timing, and place of their death. Yet, if one were to really study the publicized statistics, he or she would find that physicians often do not allow patient control. How disheartening for a patient to fear that the doctor cannot be trusted in a matter of such importance. It appears that many doctors, nurses, especially manor care takers, have no respect for their patients' wishes. Nurses as patient advocates have a responsibility to make sure patients' wishes are respected; it is nursing's role to raise informed questions and even objections if a patient's treatment violates the patient's wishes. Without strenuous interventions to improve the situation, a vast effort will be put forth to establish something that basically doesn't work. Evaluations of the reasons for the failure to implement a patient's advance directive would show quite a dramatic grab of attention. When families contradict the patients wishes, physicians take their views under consideration giving them immense weight. After all, who does the physician have to answer to? The living, of course. This is why when the family disagrees with the advance directive, the family's decisions usually win out. Dealing with death and suffering on a daily basis does not make it easy for medical professionals to make decisions about removing life support. Most make an effort to be as dispassionate as possible about such situations so that families can make informed decisions. Another factor for the failure to follow an advance directive was the treating physician's refusal. One reason for the physician's refusal may be reluctance to acknowledge increasing patient autonomy. After all, the medical decision horizon looks substantially different today than it did just a few years ago. Interpr...
