Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Antioch

Start with the preferences you want to put in writing

Written instructions and choosing a person to make health-care decisions are related parts of an advance health care directive, but they are separate questions to consider. This page focuses on communicating your wishes. You can make a list of the preferences you want to discuss without first settling who you may want to identify as a decision-maker.

Before a remote consultation, note the topics you want to address and where you feel uncertain. For example, you might write down a question about how to express a particular preference, or identify a situation you want to discuss. These notes are preparation for a conversation, not medical guidance or a substitute for it.

• Which health-care wishes do you want your written instructions to express?
• What questions do you have about communicating those preferences?
• Do you also want to discuss identifying someone to make health-care decisions?

Bring a clear picture of what already exists

If you already have an advance health care directive or other planning documents that you want to discuss, gather them before the remote consultation. If you do not have an existing directive, a short outline of your questions and preferences is still a useful starting point. You do not need to resolve every question in advance.

Consider separating what you have already written from what you hope to change, clarify, or address for the first time. If you are unsure whether a document relates to your health-care preferences, flag that uncertainty rather than assuming what it does. This gives the discussion a practical starting point.

• Set aside any existing directive you want to discuss.
• Make a short list of preferences, questions, or points that are unclear.
• Note separately whether you want to discuss choosing a decision-maker.

Think about how people could find the instructions

Preparing the relevant documents and keeping them accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. For your planning conversation, consider who might need to locate the document and what information would help them know where to look. You can note questions about keeping the document accessible and about registry information without treating registration as a substitute for the document itself.

An optional preparation step is to write down where you currently keep relevant documents and what, if anything, makes them difficult to locate. That can help focus a conversation about access. It does not establish a legal requirement about where or how documents must be stored.

Keep health-care instructions distinct from financial documents

A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role from an advance health care directive. An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions; a financial power of attorney should not be treated as a replacement for those written health-care wishes.

If you have financial documents and are unsure whether they relate to the question you want to discuss, list them separately or identify them as a question for the consultation. Keeping the topics distinct can help you focus on the health-care preferences you want to communicate, without assuming that one document addresses every planning concern.

Prepare for a focused remote consultation

A useful preparation folder can be simple: any existing directive you want to discuss, a list of preferences or questions, and a note about how you hope the relevant information will be found. If you are undecided about wording or about the person who may make decisions, write that down too. The purpose is to distinguish decisions you have made from points you want to explore.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. provides virtual services throughout California. For an Antioch consultation, you can use your notes to identify whether your main concern is expressing health-care wishes, keeping the relevant document accessible, or discussing both that and the separate question of who may make decisions.