Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Amador City

Start with the treatment preferences you want recorded

A directive can express your health-care wishes. Preparing for a consultation means considering what you want the document to communicate, rather than trying to answer every possible medical question in advance. Think about the kinds of care or treatment choices you would want represented if you could not communicate your wishes at the time.

You might note which concerns matter most to you when treatment decisions arise, what you would want a decision-maker to understand about your preferences, and whether there are circumstances you want to discuss in more detail. These are prompts for organizing your own views, not medical recommendations. The goal is to make your preferences clearer to the people who may need to find and use the document.

• Write down the questions or situations you want to discuss, in your own words.
• Identify any existing written statement of your wishes that you want to bring to the conversation.
• Note where relevant documents are currently kept and who knows how to locate them.

Keep written wishes distinct from choosing an agent

An advance health care directive can serve two related but different purposes: expressing your health-care wishes and identifying someone to make health-care decisions. This page focuses on documenting and making your preferences available. Selecting an agent is a separate decision to consider deliberately.

As you prepare, keep these questions separate: What do you want communicated about your care? And, if you are considering naming someone to make decisions, what do you want to discuss about that choice? A directive's role in health-care decisions is different from a financial power of attorney, which serves a financial role. Keeping those functions distinct can help you describe the issue you want addressed in a consultation.

Prepare for a virtual consultation

Before meeting remotely, gather any current advance health care directive or other document that records your health-care wishes, if you have one. Make a short list of points that you want clarified or changed, and note where the documents are kept. If someone you trust already knows where to find them, you may want to record that as part of your planning.

It can also help to write down whether you are asking about the wording of your preferences, how to keep the document accessible, or both. Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. If you have questions about registration, identify them for discussion rather than assuming that registration replaces keeping the document available.

• Collect existing documents that relate to your health-care wishes.
• Prepare a concise list of preferences and questions you want to address.
• Note who may need to know where the documents are kept.

Make the document findable when it may be needed

A written directive can express wishes, but those wishes may be difficult to consult if the relevant document cannot be located. Consider where you will keep it and how the people who may need it can learn where to look. Include that access question in your planning alongside the content of the directive.

Registration is a separate matter from preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible. Do not treat information about an executed directive as a substitute for considering where the document itself is kept. If you are uncertain how to handle an existing document or where to begin, bring that practical question to a consultation.