On February 12, 2026, the Estate of Sarah Marie Cooper (“Marie”) filed a lawsuit against West Virginia University and J.W. Ruby Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia in the Monongalia County Circuit Court in West Virginia, seeking damages as a result of Ms. Cooper’s medical providers’ failure to abide by her advance healthcare directive.
Compassion Legal: The End of Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices, is assisting Marie’s family in the case, because respecting the express directions in properly executed healthcare directives is a critical component of patient-directed end-of-life care. Compassion Legal is fighting to hold the healthcare providers accountable for disregarding Ms. Cooper’s explicit end-of-life instructions.
“Marie was diligent about her end-of-life planning,” said Veronica Darling, Director of Litigation with Compassion Legal: The End of Life Justice Center at Compassion & Choices. “She had firm and unwavering belief about the end of her life. Marie and her daughter Sherry followed all the required steps to make sure her decisions would be respected, including making sure that her end-of-life planning documents were in Marie’s chart and accessible to medical providers.”
Sadly, despite this preparation, Marie was intubated, chemically and physically restrained, and resuscitated against the express direction of her healthcare directive.
“Marie died on June 18, 2025, surrounded by three generations of fierce women,” added Darling. “Her family has filed a lawsuit to hold medical providers accountable for violating Marie’s healthcare directive and for institutional reforms to ensure no other family is put through the pain and agony of having end-of-life wishes disregarded.”
Compassion & Choices’ mission is to ensure everyone’s end-of-life decisions are heard and honored by healthcare facilities and providers. Marie’s story is an important example of why medical providers and healthcare institutions need training and processes in place to assess and honor healthcare directives for all patients in their care.
The Compassion & Choices family comprises two organizations: Compassion & Choices, a 501(c)(3), which educates, empowers, and advocates to improve care and expand options at life’s end; and our advocacy and political arm, the Compassion & Choices Action Network, a 501(c)(4).