Estate of Sarah Marie Cooper v. J.W. Ruby Hospital et al.

At a Glance:

Compassion Legal is fighting to hold healthcare providers accountable for disregarding explicit end-of-life instructions. Compassion & Choices’ mission is to ensure everyone’s end-of-life decisions are heard and honored by healthcare facilities and providers. Sarah Marie Cooper’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 Details: 

On February 12, 2026, the Estate of Sarah Marie Cooper (“Marie”) filed a lawsuit in the Monongalia County Circuit Court in West Virginia seeking damages as a result of her medical providers’ failure to abide by her advance healthcare directive. 

Marie was diligent about her end-of-life planning. Though she was an active and independent 80-year-old, 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 at every medical appointment. 

Sadly, despite this preparation, Marie was intubated, chemically and physically restrained, and resuscitated against the express direction of her healthcare directive. To learn more about how this impacted Marie and her family, please see her storyteller page here.

Marie died on June 18, 2025, surrounded by three generations of fierce women. 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.