Advance Health Care Directives in McKittrick, Kern County

Separate your treatment instructions from agent selection

An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those are related, but distinct, functions: written instructions communicate preferences, while naming an agent identifies a person to make decisions. This page addresses the instructions side of that distinction; selecting an agent is a separate planning question. (California Courts Self-Help; California Secretary of State.)

A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial decisions, not the health-care preferences described in an advance health care directive. Keeping the purposes separate can help you identify which document or question needs attention. (California Courts Self-Help; California Secretary of State.)

Use a change in circumstances as a review prompt

When an existing plan no longer matches your circumstances, start by identifying the mismatch rather than assuming that every part of the document needs to change. Consider whether the written preferences still reflect what you want communicated, whether the people who may need to refer to them can find the document, and whether your understanding of the document’s purpose is still clear.

For example, if you have new or changed preferences, you could note which passages or topics you want to discuss and what you want those instructions to communicate. That is a preparation exercise, not a recommendation about which treatment to accept or a substitute for discussing medical choices with an appropriate health-care professional.

• Gather the existing directive and note when you last reviewed it, if you know.
• Write down what has changed in your circumstances and what parts of the written preferences may no longer fit.
• Make a separate list of questions about who may need access to the document and where it should be kept.

Make the document usable, not merely prepared

Preparing the relevant documents and keeping them accessible are separate from registering information about an executed directive. The California Courts Self-Help information and the California Secretary of State’s registry information address that distinction. Registration should not be confused with preparing or revising the document itself. (California Courts Self-Help; California Secretary of State.)

As a practical step, decide how the people who may need to refer to your directive will learn where it is kept. You can also identify whether an existing copy may be outdated or difficult to locate. These are planning questions to raise when reviewing your arrangements; they are not a statement that a particular person must receive a copy or that registration is required.

A focused next step for McKittrick residents

Bring the existing document, your notes about changed circumstances, and questions about access to a planning discussion. Keeping the conversation focused on written treatment preferences can help distinguish what you want the directive to communicate from the separate issue of who may make health-care decisions.

McKittrick is an unincorporated community in Kern County, not a separate incorporated city. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. is based at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, and provides virtual services throughout California. You can contact the firm to discuss whether a review of your advance health care directive is an appropriate next step.