Choose a Health-Care Decision Maker in Arcadia

Identify the authority you want to assign

Begin by defining the role you are considering. A health-care directive can designate an agent for health-care decisions. Financial authority serves a different purpose, so choosing someone for one role does not answer who should have the other. This distinction is a useful starting point before discussing names or paperwork.

Ask yourself whether you want one person to be considered for both responsibilities or whether you are considering different people. There is no need to treat convenience as the deciding factor. Think about the separate responsibilities you have in mind and whether your proposed choices reflect what you want for each.

• Which person are you considering for health-care decision-making authority?
• Have you separately chosen or considered someone for financial authority?
• Would you prefer the same person for both roles, or different people?

Choose a person and an alternate thoughtfully

Once you have identified the authority at issue, consider who you would be comfortable naming as your first choice and who you would consider as an alternate. These are practical selection questions, not medical recommendations. Consider whether each person understands what you want to discuss with them, is willing to take on the role you have in mind, and can communicate with you and others involved in your care.

An alternate is worth discussing even when you feel certain about your primary choice. Thinking through another possible choice helps you clarify what matters to you in a decision maker. It can also prompt a useful conversation about whether the people you are considering understand the responsibilities you want them to take on.

• Who would understand your priorities and communicate them clearly?
• Who is your next choice if your preferred person cannot take on the role?
• What would you want each person to understand before you make a decision?

Keep health-care and financial roles distinct

Health-care authority and financial authority serve different purposes. A person considered for health-care decisions is not, solely because of that consideration, the person you have selected for financial matters. Likewise, a financial arrangement does not answer who you want to designate for health-care decisions.

This ownership and authority question can change the next step in your planning discussion. If you have already made a financial-authority choice, note whether you want the same person considered for health-care decisions. If you are unsure, bring that uncertainty forward rather than assuming that one choice determines the other.

• Write down any existing financial-authority arrangement you want to discuss.
• Mark whether your health-care and financial choices are intended to be the same or different.
• List any concern about how the two roles should be assigned.

Prepare for a focused planning conversation

Before a conversation, you may find it useful to make a short, optional list of your preferred agent, possible alternate, and the questions you have about each person’s role. If you have made a separate financial-authority choice, include that information so the distinction between the responsibilities can be discussed clearly.

You may also want to raise treatment preferences as a separate planning topic. Consider what you want to discuss about those preferences and how you would want a person you designate to understand your views. Keep that conversation distinct from the question of who you want to designate as an agent; the available legal fact here is that a health-care directive can designate an agent for health-care decisions.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. can discuss this planning question virtually throughout California. A useful next step is to bring your list of possible decision makers, alternates, and unresolved authority questions to a planning conversation.