Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in McFarland

Decide what you want the document to communicate

Written treatment preferences give you a way to express your health-care wishes in an advance health care directive. A useful first step is to reflect on the kinds of care-related choices you want the document to address, then explain those preferences in clear language. This is preparation for discussing the document; it is not a substitute for medical advice.

A living will is often discussed in connection with written health-care wishes. The key planning question is whether you want your preferences recorded, someone identified to make decisions, or both. An advance health care directive can serve these separate purposes, but recording preferences and selecting a decision-maker are not the same choice.

• Note the preferences you want to communicate and any questions you want to discuss.
• Consider whether you also want to identify a person to make health-care decisions.

Written wishes and an agent serve different purposes

An advance health care directive can both express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. If your main concern is selecting that person, the choice of agent deserves its own careful consideration; a separate agent-selection discussion can focus on who you trust to act for you. If your main concern is communicating treatment preferences, focus on making those wishes understandable.

These functions can work together in one directive, but neither should be treated as a replacement for thinking through the other. Naming someone does not, by itself, communicate every preference you may want recorded. Written wishes, in turn, do not themselves select the person who may make decisions if you include no such designation.

Know what this document does not handle

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and health-care decisions. It is not a financial power of attorney: that document serves a different, financial role. If your planning concerns include someone managing financial matters, discuss that separately rather than assuming a health-care directive covers it.

The practical limit is scope. A directive can communicate the health-care choices and decision-making arrangement it addresses; it does not answer financial-planning questions. Keeping those functions distinct helps you identify what you still need to discuss without treating one document as an all-purpose plan.

Plan for people to find the document

Preparing a directive and keeping it accessible to the people who may need it are separate parts of planning. Think about who should know where the document is kept and how they could locate it when relevant. A document that cannot be found may be less useful for communicating your wishes when someone needs to consult it.

California also offers a registry for information about an executed advance health care directive. Registering information is distinct from preparing the directive and keeping the document accessible. Registration should not be confused with creating the document or as a substitute for making sure relevant people can locate it.

• Before a planning discussion, make a list of the people who may need to know where your directive is kept.

Discuss your preferences with Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services throughout California. For a discussion about an advance health care directive, bring your questions about the wishes you want to express, whether you also want to identify a decision-maker, and how the document will be made accessible to the people who may need it.

A focused conversation can help clarify whether your priority is written treatment preferences, identifying someone to make health-care decisions, or addressing both in the directive. You can also raise any separate financial-planning questions so they are not mistaken for a function of the health-care document.