Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Oakley Residents

Start with the decisions you want documented

Think about what you want the document to communicate if you cannot make or express a health-care decision yourself. Your written instructions can describe your wishes; the directive can also identify a person to make health-care decisions. These are related but distinct functions: instructions communicate your preferences, while naming someone assigns a decision-making role.

Before preparing a document, consider which preferences you want recorded and how you would want the person named in it to understand them. This is a practical way to make the document more useful to the people who may need to refer to it. It is not a substitute for medical advice about particular treatments.

• List the health-care preferences you want to communicate.
• Consider who should be able to make health-care decisions under the directive.
• Keep the written instructions distinct from the choice of decision-maker.

Understand the named person's role—and its limits

A person identified in an advance health care directive may make health-care decisions under the directive. The document can also express your wishes. Discussing your preferences with the person you name can help them understand what you want the document to convey, but the written instructions and the person’s role are not the same thing.

That role is not a general authority over finances. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial purpose. If you want someone to handle financial matters, do not assume that naming them in a health-care directive gives them that authority; consider financial planning separately.

Make the document findable when it matters

Preparing a directive and keeping it accessible are practical parts of planning. Think about how the people who may need to refer to it would know where to find it, and tell the relevant people where you keep it. A document that cannot readily be located may be harder for others to consult when needed.

Registration is a separate matter from preparing and keeping the document accessible. California provides an advance health care directive registry, but registering information about an executed directive is not the same as preparing the directive itself. Treat these as distinct steps in your planning rather than assuming one replaces the other.

• Choose a place where the directive can be located.
• Let the people who may need it know where it is kept.
• Consider separately whether to register information about an executed directive.

Plan for Oakley with statewide virtual service

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services statewide, including to people in Oakley. A planning discussion can help you identify the preferences you want recorded, distinguish those instructions from the decision-maker’s role, and consider how to keep the document accessible.

A useful next step is to write down the wishes you want the directive to communicate and the questions you have about the person you may name. Keep questions about treatment choices for an appropriate health-care professional; the planning conversation can focus on what you want your document to express and how its different functions fit together.