Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Susanville
An advance health care directive can put your health-care wishes in writing and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Before deciding what to change, compare it with any financial power of attorney you already have: that document serves a different role. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California.
Start with the decision the document is meant to address
Consider two separate questions: What health-care preferences do you want written down, and who do you want to make health-care decisions? An advance health care directive can address both by expressing health-care wishes and identifying a decision-maker. Reviewing these as distinct choices can help you see whether your priority is clarifying instructions, selecting a person, or considering both.
This page focuses on recording treatment preferences and making the document available to people who may need it. If your main question is who should act as your health-care agent, treat that as a separate decision rather than assuming that writing down preferences resolves it.
Compare health-care instructions with financial authority
A financial power of attorney serves a different role from an advance health care directive. One concerns financial matters; the directive concerns health-care wishes and health-care decisions. Having a financial power of attorney does not, by itself, answer whether your health-care preferences are recorded in an advance directive.
When reviewing what you have, identify each document by its stated purpose rather than treating all planning documents as interchangeable. If you are unsure what a document addresses, note its title and the decisions it appears to cover so you can ask focused questions before deciding whether it needs attention.
A practical review before deciding what to change
Gather the health-care directive or living-will document you currently use, if any, along with any financial power of attorney. This is a preparation step, not a legal requirement. Make a short list of the preferences you want the written instructions to communicate and separately note any question about who should make health-care decisions.
Then compare your list with the documents: Does a health-care directive express the preferences you want recorded? Does it identify someone to make health-care decisions? Are you looking at a financial document when your question is about health care? These questions can help distinguish a preference that may need clarification from a separate agent-selection question. They are not medical recommendations; discuss treatment choices with the appropriate health-care professionals.
Keep the information usable
Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed advance health care directive. Registration is not a substitute for having the document available to the people who may need it. Consider where the current document is kept and how the people you expect to rely on it would know where to find it.
If you are considering registration, first distinguish that step from preparing and sharing access to the underlying document. The useful next step is to bring your existing documents and questions together, then decide whether the issue is the written preferences, the person named to make health-care decisions, or simply making the document easier to locate.
Questions to discuss
Does a financial power of attorney record my health-care treatment preferences?
A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions, so compare the documents by their purposes rather than assuming one covers the other.
Is registering information about a directive the same as keeping the directive accessible?
No. Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed advance health care directive. Consider both document access and any registration question separately.
Official resources
General information, not an assessment of your documents or circumstances. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945, and offers virtual services across California. A remote consultation does not itself authorize remote signing or a remote court appearance.
