This is an opinion column

Most of us have done it dozens of times by a certain age—we’ve sat in a hospital waiting room for hours and hours, with its curly, outdated magazines and signs advising us to turn off our cell phones. These signs are largely ignored. Cell phones ring and ping with messages from family and friends: Is he all right? Is the surgery over? Did everything go OK?

We all know the drill: The patient sticks his arm out to receive a wristband that makes sure he can be identified as a person who needs a stent or an angiogram or some other procedure. He is asked about a Living Will and if he has one. The day I spent at my local hospital with a family member most people said they did. A few people asked what that was. One man said it was nobody’s business.