Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Moraga

Separate your treatment preferences from the choice of decision-maker

Written instructions help communicate your health-care wishes. Naming someone in an advance health care directive addresses a different question: who you identify to make health-care decisions. A document may address both, but choosing a person does not itself explain your preferences, and writing preferences does not by itself select someone to make decisions.

As you consider what belongs in your instructions, focus on the preferences you want another person to understand. You might make a personal list of questions or situations you want to discuss, then decide which preferences should be recorded in the directive. This is a preparation step, not a medical recommendation about which treatment to choose.

• What health-care wishes do you want communicated in writing?
• Who do you want identified to make health-care decisions?
• What would help that person understand the preferences you want recorded?

Understand the role—and limits—of the named person

The directive can identify someone to make health-care decisions. The person’s role is not the same as the role of someone designated to handle financial matters. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role; it should not be treated as a substitute for communicating health-care wishes or identifying a health-care decision-maker.

The practical question is whether your document communicates the preferences you want considered and identifies the person you intend to involve. If you are uncertain about what the person you name would be expected or authorized to do in a particular situation, raise that question when discussing the document. Do not assume that naming someone grants authority over finances or settles questions outside the health-care role described in the directive.

Prepare your preferences for a focused discussion

Before discussing a directive, write down the preferences you want to communicate and any questions about how to express them. Separately note whom you are considering naming and what you want that person to understand about your wishes. These notes can help you distinguish a decision about treatment preferences from a decision about who should make health-care decisions.

For example, someone may have clear preferences but still be deciding whom to identify, or may know whom to name but need to clarify what wishes to put in writing. Treat these as separate decisions to work through rather than assuming one automatically answers the other. Keep the resulting document accessible to the people who may need it; preparing and keeping documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive.

• List the preferences and questions you want to address.
• Consider whether the person you have in mind understands the role you want that person to take.
• Plan how the relevant document will be kept accessible to people who may need it.

Discuss how the document fits your planning

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. is based at 802 Grant Ave in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California, including Moraga. A planning discussion can help you organize your health-care preferences, distinguish written instructions from naming a decision-maker, and identify questions about the role you intend the named person to have.

A useful next step is to gather your questions and preferences before discussing an advance health care directive. If your concern is instead who should manage financial matters, distinguish that issue from health-care decision-making: a financial power of attorney serves a separate financial role.