Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Pleasant Hill

Separate the instructions from the decision-maker

Consider two questions as you plan: What would you want people involved in your care to know, and whom would you want to make health-care decisions? An advance health care directive can address both by expressing health-care wishes and identifying someone to make decisions.

Written preferences communicate your choices; naming someone assigns a health-care decision-making role. Thinking through each separately can make the document more useful to the people who may need to refer to it. You can consider what matters to you and whether the person you name is prepared to carry out that role.

Know what the named person’s role covers

The person identified in an advance health care directive is named to make health-care decisions. The directive’s health-care role is not the same as authority over finances. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role, so a health-care directive should not be treated as a substitute for that separate planning.

When considering responsibilities, ask whether you are describing preferences for care, naming someone to make health-care decisions, or planning for financial decisions. The document’s purpose matters: the person named for health-care decisions does not receive financial authority simply because they are named in this directive.

Make your preferences practical to communicate

Before discussing or preparing a directive, consider which treatment preferences you want to express and what you would want a decision-maker to understand about them. You might organize your thoughts around the situations or choices you want to address, without treating this preparation as medical advice.

Think about how the people who may need the document would know where it is. Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is separate from registering information about an executed directive. Accessibility is a practical consideration: a document that cannot be found may be harder for others to consult when needed.

• Write down the preferences and questions you want to discuss.
• Consider who should know where your directive is kept.
• If you are also planning for financial decisions, identify that as a separate planning need.

Choose the planning conversation that fits

If your main concern is how your health-care wishes are expressed, focus the conversation on the instructions you want recorded. If your main concern is who would make decisions, focus on the person you are considering and the health-care role you want that person to have. If you are trying to plan for financial decisions as well, recognize that this involves a different document and role.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. serves clients virtually throughout California from its Novato office. A useful next step is to bring your questions and a summary of the preferences or responsibilities you want to address, so the planning discussion can stay focused on your goals.