Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Covina Residents

Separate your instructions from your decision-maker

Start with the question that could change your next step: are you primarily trying to communicate your own treatment preferences, or to give someone authority to make health-care decisions if you cannot communicate? An advance health care directive can address both by expressing health-care wishes and identifying a person to make decisions. You can consider each purpose separately before deciding what you want the document to say.

This page focuses on written treatment preferences and making them available. Choosing the person who may act for you is a separate planning decision. If you are unsure who should serve, consider that question on its own rather than assuming that writing instructions answers it.

• For written preferences, consider what you want others to understand about your care.
• For decision-making authority, consider who you would want to communicate and decide on your behalf.
• If you want both, make sure you have considered both—not only the identity of the person or only the instructions.

Make the preferences understandable and usable

Before discussing document language, think through what you want communicated. Which preferences matter most to you? Are there circumstances or concerns you want the people involved in your care to understand? These are preparation questions, not medical recommendations. Your answers can help you explain your priorities and identify points you want to discuss when planning the directive.

A written preference is useful only if the relevant people can find and understand it when needed. Consider who should know where the document is kept and how the people involved in your care could access it. Preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible is different from registering information about an already executed directive; registration is not a substitute for keeping the document available to the people who may need it.

• Write down the preferences and questions you want to discuss.
• Consider who needs to know where the directive is kept.
• Keep the location and access plan current if you move or change how you store important documents.

Keep health-care authority distinct from financial authority

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and may identify someone to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney has a different role: financial matters. A person or document associated with one kind of authority should not be assumed to cover the other.

As you organize your planning, ask whether you are addressing health-care decisions, financial decisions, or both. If a concern involves bills, accounts, or other financial matters, identify it separately for discussion rather than treating treatment instructions as financial authorization.

Prepare for a focused planning conversation

A useful next step is to bring a short list of your treatment-related priorities, questions, and any concerns about who should be able to access your instructions. You may also note whether you are considering a decision-maker, written preferences, or both. This preparation helps keep the conversation centered on what you want communicated and where the document will be available.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. is based at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, California, and provides virtual services statewide. Covina residents can discuss how written treatment preferences and decision-making authority fit into their planning without treating those as the same question.