Advanced Health Care Directive in a Senior's emergency

In mid July, my husband and I received an early morning phone call from my sister-in-law that Marie had been admitted to the hospital. She was non-responsive with a severe infection due to diverticulitis (an inflammation process in the intestinal tract). We went out the door to work, only to realize we couldn’t think about anything but Mom. We called (one can’t get “sympathy” discount fares online) United Airlines and my husband took a red-eye flight that night. He went directly to the hospital where for the next couple of days he experienced Marie having hallucinations. Before he got there the hospital had asked his sister to sign a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). She had Marie’s signed Health Care Directive in her hand, but that wasn’t enough. My husband wanted to be there with his sister, so she wasn’t alone signing orders for doctors to withhold life-saving measures for their mother. Within a few hours the third sibling and his wife arrived from out of state. Not realizing how sick she had been, or was, imagine her realizing her children were by her side because they thought she might be passing away.