Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Pomona Residents

Separate treatment preferences from choosing a decision-maker

An advance health care directive can serve two related purposes: expressing your health-care wishes and identifying someone to make health-care decisions. Those purposes are connected, but they are not interchangeable. Written instructions communicate preferences; naming an agent addresses who may make decisions.

If your main concern is describing the care you would want, focus the consultation on making those preferences understandable. If you also want to name someone, consider that as a separate decision to discuss. This page focuses on written treatment preferences, rather than the process of selecting an agent.

Prepare for a focused remote consultation

You do not need to arrive with polished legal language. A useful starting point is a short, plain-language list of what you want the directive to communicate and any questions you want to raise. The goal is to explain your priorities clearly, not to make medical decisions during the consultation.

For a productive conversation, gather any existing advance health care directive or related planning document you want to discuss. Note whether you already have written wishes, whether you have identified a decision-maker, and what feels unclear or incomplete. You may also want to note who you would like to be able to locate the document if it is needed. These are preparation suggestions, not legal prerequisites.

• Write down the preferences or concerns you want to discuss, in your own words.
• Collect any existing directive you want considered and note what you would like to change or clarify.
• List questions about how written instructions and a decision-maker’s role relate to each other.
• Think about who should know where the completed document is kept.

Make the document findable as well as useful

A directive can only communicate your wishes to people who can locate and consult it. After discussing and preparing the document, consider where it will be kept and how the people you choose to inform can find it. Keeping relevant documents accessible is a practical matter distinct from registering information about an executed directive.

California provides an Advance Health Care Directive Registry. Registration is a way to record information about an executed directive; it is not the same step as preparing the directive or keeping the document accessible. Consider which approach to access and recordkeeping suits your circumstances, and ask questions if you are unsure what registration does.

Keep health-care planning separate from financial authority

A financial power of attorney serves a different role from an advance health care directive. The directive concerns health-care wishes and health-care decisions; a financial power of attorney concerns financial matters. Do not assume that a document addressing one role covers the other.

If you want to discuss both health-care and financial planning, identify them as separate topics for the consultation. That distinction helps keep your treatment preferences clear and avoids treating a financial document as a substitute for health-care instructions.

Discuss next steps for your circumstances

A virtual consultation can begin with your priorities, any existing documents you want to discuss, and the questions you have about communicating and keeping your wishes accessible. The practical next step is to gather those materials and notes before arranging a conversation with the firm. The firm’s virtual services are available statewide from its Novato office.