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The best medical advice or treatment regimen is only as good as a patient's willingness and ability to follow it, and there's a wide gap between what doctors recommend and what patients actually do. Studies over the past three decades have shown that noncompliance can range from 20% to a staggering 80%, depending on the kind of treatment. On average, patients follow doctors' advice to the letter only about half of the time. And when a treatment regimen is complicated or difficult-lifestyle changes to control hypertension or diabetes, for instance-compliance is even lower. Only about one in four people with hypertension manages to control his or her blood pressure adequately. Even when it comes to something as simple as taking a single medication, one-third of patients may end up not following the dosing directions. Failure to follow even simple medical advice can also put patients at significant risk. The patient who decides that...

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