Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Artesia Residents

Start with what has changed

A useful review begins by comparing the plan you have with your current circumstances and the treatment preferences you want expressed. Consider whether the document still reflects your wishes and whether the people who may need to consult it can locate it. These are practical questions to organize your review, not medical recommendations.

If you are unsure what a treatment preference means in your situation, separate that question from the document review and raise it with an appropriate health-care professional. The purpose here is to make sure your written instructions communicate your wishes, not to choose treatment for you.

• Identify which parts of your current plan no longer seem accurate or complete.
• Write down the preferences you want the document to communicate.
• Note who should be able to find the document if it is needed.

Written instructions and choosing a decision-maker are distinct

An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those are related but distinct functions: written instructions communicate preferences, while identifying someone addresses who may make decisions. This page focuses on keeping treatment preferences current and accessible, rather than selecting or evaluating an agent.

A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial decisions, not health-care decisions. If your concern is who can manage finances, do not assume a health-care directive addresses that separate purpose.

Make your preferences usable

A written preference helps only if it can be found by the people who may need to refer to it. As you review an existing plan, consider where the relevant documents are kept and how the people who may need them would know where to look. You can also make a short list of questions about unclear language or changed preferences to discuss as part of your planning.

Preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible is separate from registering information about an executed directive. Registration concerns information about a directive; it is not a substitute for preparing the document or making the document itself accessible. Keep those tasks distinct when deciding what to address.

Prepare for a focused review

Before discussing an existing plan, gather the directive and note the specific portions that no longer fit. Bring a concise summary of what has changed and the preferences you want the document to express. If a question is medical rather than about how to communicate your wishes, identify it separately so it can be addressed with a health-care professional.

A focused review can help clarify whether the issue is the wording of your preferences, access to the document, or a separate question about who may make decisions. Keeping those questions separate makes it easier to address the concern you actually have without treating a financial-planning document as a health-care instruction.

• Gather the existing directive and any notes you have about it.
• List the preferences or circumstances you believe have changed.
• Identify any questions about document access or the separate role of a decision-maker.