Advance Health Care Directives in Altadena, Los Angeles County

Compare the documents by the job they do

An advance health care directive can record your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those are related, but distinct, functions: the document can communicate your preferences, while the choice of a decision-maker addresses who may act when you cannot speak for yourself. A living will is often discussed as a way to state treatment preferences; when reviewing paperwork, focus on whether the instructions you want recorded are actually expressed in the directive you have or are considering.

A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial decisions, not health-care treatment preferences. Having one does not, by itself, answer what health-care instructions you want documented or who should make health-care decisions. Compare the purpose of each document before deciding what needs attention. A document’s title alone may not tell you whether it covers the decision you are trying to plan for.

• For treatment preferences, identify the instructions you want communicated in an advance health care directive.
• For authority to make health-care decisions, consider separately whom you want identified in the directive.
• For financial matters, review a financial power of attorney as a separate planning document.

Decide what, if anything, needs to change

A useful review begins with a concrete question: does the document you have record the preferences you want people to know, identify the person you intend to make health-care decisions, both, or neither? If your concern is only about changing treatment instructions, keep that review distinct from choosing or changing an agent. If your concern is who would make decisions, address the agent-selection question rather than treating a financial power of attorney as a substitute.

Before discussing changes, make a short list of the instructions you want your document to communicate and any parts of the existing document you find unclear or incomplete. You can also note whether your concern is about the written preferences, the person identified to decide, or both. These are preparation questions, not a medical recommendation about which treatments to accept or decline. Discuss treatment choices with the appropriate health-care professionals; legal planning can address how your choices are recorded and made available.

• Gather the advance health care directive and any document you are comparing it with.
• Mark the passages that concern treatment preferences separately from those identifying a decision-maker.
• Write down what you want clarified before deciding whether a document should be changed.

Make relevant information accessible

Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is separate from registering information about an executed advance health care directive. The California Secretary of State’s registry information concerns registration; registration is not a replacement for deciding what your directive should say or for ensuring that the people who may need the document can locate it. Think through who should know where the document is kept and how the information could be found when needed.

As a practical step, list the people who may need to know that a directive exists and where to find it, then check that your storage plan matches your intentions. This is a planning suggestion, not a claim that a particular person must receive a copy or that registration is required. If you are considering registration, review the registry’s current information separately from the work of preparing and keeping the document accessible.

• Keep a note of where the relevant documents are stored.
• Consider whom you want to be able to locate them and what information would help.
• Treat document preparation, accessibility and registry information as separate tasks.

Get help with a document-focused review

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. provides virtual services throughout California and has one physical office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945. For Altadena residents, a focused discussion can begin with the documents you already have and the question you want resolved: whether your written preferences are clear, whether the document also identifies the decision-maker you intend, or whether a financial power of attorney is being confused with health-care authority.

Altadena is in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Superior Court offers a general probate resource, but that resource is not proof of venue or instructions for a particular case. Routine review of health-care preferences is a different question from a court matter; do not treat a county court page as approval of a planning document. For a first conversation, organize your documents and your questions about their different purposes. You can reach the firm at 844-492-4600.