Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Upland

Start with the decision your document needs to communicate

Before focusing on forms, consider what you want a written directive to communicate about your health care. An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those are related but distinct functions: instructions describe your preferences, while naming an agent identifies a person who may make decisions.

This page focuses on making treatment preferences clear and keeping them available. Choosing the person who may act as your health-care decision-maker is a separate decision. You may want to consider both, but do not assume that choosing an agent alone records the preferences you want that person to understand.

• Which health-care wishes do you want put in writing?
• What would you want a decision-maker to understand about those wishes?
• Separately, have you decided who should make health-care decisions if you cannot?

Make your preferences concrete before putting them into words

A practical preparation step is to write down the questions or situations that make your preferences difficult to express. For example, you might note a concern you want to discuss with your health-care professional, or a value you want a decision-maker to understand. These notes are a way to prepare for a conversation; they are not medical advice or a substitute for the directive.

If your preferences are not yet clear, you can identify what you still need to consider rather than forcing an answer. The goal is to make the instructions meaningful to you and understandable to the person who may rely on them. A general statement that does not reflect your own priorities may be less useful in communicating what you intend.

• List the preferences you are ready to express and the questions you still have.
• Consider what context would help another person understand your instructions.
• Keep the written preferences distinct from the separate choice of a health-care agent.

Keep health-care instructions separate from financial authority

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and may identify someone to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney serves a different role: financial matters. One document should not be treated as a substitute for the other simply because both involve another person acting on your behalf.

When organizing your planning documents, label and store health-care and financial documents so it is clear which purpose each serves. This helps avoid confusion about whether a document communicates health-care preferences or concerns financial decisions.

• Identify health-care instructions as health-care documents.
• Keep financial authority documents in their distinct role.
• If you are uncertain what a document is intended to do, clarify its purpose before relying on it.

Plan for access as well as preparation

Preparing a directive and making information about an executed directive available are separate tasks. The California Secretary of State maintains an advance health care directive registry, but registry information does not replace preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible.

Think through who may need to locate the directive and where the document information will be kept. Tell the appropriate people how to find it, and review your storage plan if your circumstances change. A document that cannot be found when needed may not communicate your wishes effectively.

Registration is an additional consideration, not a reason to leave the underlying document difficult to locate. Keep the directive itself accessible to the people who may need it.

• Decide where the directive and related information will be kept.
• Consider who should know how to locate it.
• Treat registry information and access to the actual document as distinct parts of your plan.

A focused next step

Bring your questions, draft preferences, and any existing health-care planning documents to a discussion with the firm. That gives you a concrete basis to clarify what you want the directive to communicate and how it relates to the separate decision about a health-care agent. Virtual services are available statewide, including for people in Upland.