Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Grass Valley

Decide what you want the written instructions to communicate

An advance health care directive can put health-care wishes into writing. Those instructions provide a way to communicate preferences; they are distinct from the separate function of identifying someone to make health-care decisions. Consider what you would want that person, and others who may need to know your wishes, to understand from the document.

You do not need to try to write an answer for every possible circumstance to make this planning useful. As an optional preparation step, note the preferences you want to discuss and any questions about how clearly they are expressed. That can help focus a conversation about what you want the written instructions to convey.

• What health-care wishes do you want recorded?
• What would you want the person identified in the directive to understand about those wishes?
• Are there parts of your preferences you are unsure how to express?

Keep written wishes distinct from the decision-maker’s role

A directive can both express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. These functions are related, but they are not identical: written instructions communicate your preferences, while the identified person may make health-care decisions covered by the directive. Thinking about both functions helps clarify what you want the document to say and whose role it identifies.

This page focuses on documenting treatment preferences and making the document available, rather than on choosing an agent. If you are considering who to identify, treat that as a separate decision from drafting your wishes. Questions to consider include what you want the person to understand and whether the document clearly distinguishes your written preferences from the person’s decision-making role.

• Which preferences do you want the document itself to communicate?
• What do you want the identified person to understand about those preferences?
• What questions remain about the scope of the role described in the directive?

Do not treat a health-care directive as financial authority

A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role from an advance health care directive. The directive’s health-care functions do not, by themselves, establish authority over financial matters. If a situation involves both health-care and financial decisions, consider them separately rather than assuming that one document addresses both.

As an optional planning exercise, list the kinds of decisions you want your documents to address, separating health-care questions from financial ones. If you are uncertain which document relates to a particular question, make that a point to clarify before relying on a document to address it.

• Is the question about health-care wishes or a health-care decision?
• Is it instead about a financial matter?
• Do you have questions about whether your planning addresses each role separately?

Plan how the document will be found

Preparing relevant documents and keeping them accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration does not take the place of deciding what you want the directive to communicate or organizing access to the document itself.

As an optional organizational step, decide where you plan to keep the directive and who should know how to find it. You can make a short list of people who may need to know that it exists and consider whether they know where it is kept. This is a practical way to make the document easier to locate, not a separate legal requirement.

• Choose a place to keep the document that the relevant people can locate.
• Consider who should know that it exists and how to find it.
• Keep any registration question separate from preparing and sharing the document.

Discuss your planning with Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services throughout California, including Grass Valley. A useful next step is to organize the preferences you want recorded, questions about the directive’s distinct functions, and your plan for making the document accessible. Bringing those points together can help keep the discussion focused on what you want communicated and who may need to find it.