Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Hercules

Start with the decision you want the document to address

An advance health care directive can do two different things: express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those purposes are related, but they are not the same decision. You may want to focus on documenting preferences, choosing a decision-maker, or reviewing both parts together.

A useful first question is: if someone needed to understand your preferences, what would you want the written instructions to communicate? Consider the kinds of choices you want addressed and whether the document you have actually captures them. This is a preparation prompt, not a recommendation about particular medical treatment.

Compare the documents by purpose

Before deciding what to change, identify what each document is meant to do. An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and can identify a person to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial decisions, rather than health-care preferences.

That distinction matters if you are reviewing several planning documents at once. A financial power of attorney should not be treated as a substitute for written health-care wishes, and writing down health-care preferences does not, by itself, address financial decisions. Review the purpose of each document instead of relying only on its title.

• Advance health care directive: consider whether the written wishes and any identified health-care decision-maker reflect what you intend.
• Financial power of attorney: consider whether the financial decision-making role is addressed separately.
• Document called a “living will”: compare its actual contents and purpose with the health-care wishes you want recorded.

Prepare to review what you already have

Gather the documents you want to compare, including any advance health care directive, any document you call a living will, and any financial power of attorney. Note which one contains the preferences you want others to know and where you currently keep it. If you are unsure what a document does, mark that question rather than assuming its title answers it.

Then make a short list of the changes you are considering. For example, you might want to clarify written preferences, revisit the person identified to make health-care decisions, or separate health-care planning from financial planning. These are different review questions; identifying them can make a conversation about the documents more focused.

Make accessibility part of the review

Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is a practical step distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration is not a replacement for having the documents available to the people who may need them.

As you review your arrangements, consider who should know where the relevant documents are kept and how they could locate them. The useful next step is to compare the documents’ purposes and contents, then decide which questions you want answered before making changes. Statewide virtual service is available to Hercules residents through the firm.