Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Bell Gardens
An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Consider the instructions and the decision-making role separately: one does not replace thoughtful consideration of the other. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California.
Start with what you want the document to do
Before deciding what to change, identify whether your main concern is recording treatment preferences, naming a person to make health-care decisions, or addressing both. An advance health care directive can serve both purposes. If you already have written instructions, ask whether they still express your wishes; if you have identified a decision-maker, consider separately whether your instructions are clear to the people who may need them.
This page focuses on written health-care wishes and making relevant documents accessible. Choosing who should act is a separate decision, even though a directive may also identify someone for that role.
Compare the directive with a financial power of attorney
A financial power of attorney has a different role: it concerns financial decisions, rather than expressing health-care wishes or identifying someone to make health-care decisions. Compare the purpose of each document before deciding whether a change to one addresses the concern you actually have.
For example, if you want to communicate preferences about health care, a financial power of attorney is not a substitute for considering an advance health care directive. If your concern is financial decision-making, that is a different planning question. The distinction helps keep health-care instructions and financial authority from being treated as interchangeable.
Make your written preferences useful to others
Consider whether the language in your directive communicates what matters to you in a way that someone else can understand. You might make a private list of questions about the situations or treatment preferences you want the document to address, then consider whether the written instructions reflect those priorities. These are preparation prompts, not medical recommendations.
A document can only help people understand your wishes if they can find it when relevant. Think through who may need access to the applicable documents and how you will keep them accessible. Preparing and keeping documents accessible is a separate task from registering information about an executed directive.
Decide whether a change or an access step is needed
Use three questions to guide your next step: Do the written health-care wishes still reflect what you want? Does the directive address the role of the person you want to make health-care decisions? Can the people who may need the document find it? A concern about meaning may call for reviewing the written instructions; a concern about availability may call for improving access rather than changing the instructions.
Registration is another distinct consideration: registering information about an executed directive is not the same as preparing the directive or keeping the relevant documents accessible. Consider these as separate tasks so that an access step is not mistaken for a review of the document's contents.
Prepare for a planning conversation
Before discussing your documents, gather the health-care instructions and related planning documents you already have, and note what you want to clarify. Identify whether your questions concern the wording of your preferences, the decision-maker role, document access, or the separate financial role of a power of attorney. This preparation can make the next conversation more focused.
Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. serves clients virtually throughout California from its Novato office. A useful next step is to organize your questions and documents, then discuss which issue you want to address first.
Questions to discuss
Does a financial power of attorney communicate my health-care treatment preferences?
No. A financial power of attorney serves a financial role. An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions, so consider the documents according to their different purposes.
Is registering information about an executed directive the same as keeping the document accessible?
No. Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Consider document access and registration as separate steps.
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.
