Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Dorris Residents

Begin with the preferences you want to communicate

Before a consultation, take time to put your own priorities into plain language. You might note the concerns you want to raise, the kinds of situations you want to discuss, and questions about how your wishes could be expressed in writing. These notes do not need to sound like legal language; their purpose is to help you explain what matters to you.

Keep your preparation focused on communicating your preferences, rather than trying to decide a medical question on your own. If a preference depends on particular circumstances, write down what those circumstances are and ask how to describe them clearly. A consultation can then address the wording and organization of your wishes without treating your notes as medical advice.

• Write down priorities or concerns you want to discuss.
• List situations or terms that you would like explained.
• Bring questions about how your preferences can be conveyed in a directive.

Keep written instructions distinct from choosing a decision-maker

An advance health care directive can serve two related purposes: it can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Written preferences and the choice of a person to make decisions are separate matters, even when they appear in the same directive.

This consultation focus is documenting treatment preferences. If you are also considering whom to identify as a decision-maker, prepare that as a separate topic rather than assuming your written instructions answer it. A financial power of attorney has a different role involving financial matters; it is not the health-care preference document. Keeping these purposes clear helps make the discussion more focused.

What to collect before a remote consultation

A brief, organized set of notes can make a remote conversation easier. Gather the preferences and questions you want to cover, and set aside any existing advance health care directive you would like to discuss. If you do not have an existing document, your notes and questions are still a practical starting point.

You may also want to think about who should know where the document is kept and how someone who may need it could locate it. These are optional preparation steps, not a list of formal requirements. The goal is to identify any practical gaps you want to address while discussing how your wishes will be recorded and made available.

• Bring your own outline of treatment preferences and concerns.
• Have an existing directive available if you want to discuss it.
• Note who may need to locate the document and what questions you have about access.

Plan for the document to be findable

Preparing a directive and keeping relevant documents accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration should not be treated as a replacement for considering how the people who may need the document can find it.

As part of your preparation, consider where you expect to keep the document and how you would let relevant people know where it is. You can raise those practical arrangements during the consultation. The point is not to assume that a document will be available when needed, but to think through how it can be located.

Use the consultation to resolve specific questions

For a virtual consultation serving Dorris, organize your treatment preferences, any existing directive you want to discuss, and the questions you have about expressing your wishes. Separating those topics from the choice of a health-care decision-maker can help clarify what you want to accomplish in this discussion.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. can discuss advance health care directives and living wills with people throughout California through virtual services. A useful next step is to prepare your notes and identify the points you want to address first.