Advance Health Care Directives in Nuevo, Riverside County

Start with the preferences you want to communicate

A useful preparation step is to describe, in your own words, what you want a health-care decision-maker to understand about your wishes. You might list topics that matter to you, concerns you want to raise, and questions about how those preferences could be expressed in writing. You do not need to turn those notes into medical instructions or decide every issue before speaking with the firm.

Keep treatment preferences distinct from choosing a person to make health-care decisions. An advance health care directive can address both wishes and decision-making authority, but they are separate functions. This page focuses on recording and making your preferences accessible, not on selecting an agent. Questions about a particular treatment or your medical circumstances belong with an appropriate health-care professional.

• Write down the preferences or concerns you want to explain.
• List subjects you are uncertain about and want to discuss.
• Separate questions about what you want from questions about who might make decisions.

Collect context before a virtual consultation

A short preparation note can make the conversation more focused. Include what you want the document to accomplish, which preferences you want it to communicate, and any points you have not settled. If you already have planning documents, make a simple list of their names and where you keep them; you do not need to assume that every document serves the same purpose.

In particular, a financial power of attorney serves a different role from an advance health care directive: it concerns financial matters, while the directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. If you are unsure which document relates to a question, note the question rather than trying to resolve it in advance.

• Prepare a brief summary of your priorities and open questions.
• Note any existing planning documents and where they are stored.
• Identify what you want to learn about communicating preferences or keeping the document accessible.

Plan for people to find the document

Preparing a directive and keeping the relevant document accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. California has an Advance Health Care Directive Registry. If registry information is something you are considering, raise questions about how it relates to the document itself; do not treat registration as a replacement for making the document available to people who may need it.

As a practical matter, think through who should know that the document exists and how they would learn where it is kept. You can bring that access question to the consultation along with your preferences. The point is to discuss a workable way for the people who may be involved in your care to locate the document, not to assume that any particular arrangement is required.

• Consider who should know where the document is kept.
• Write down any questions you have about document access and registry information.

Use the consultation to clarify the document’s purpose

You can begin with uncertainty: explain what you want your wishes to convey, what remains difficult to decide, and what you want to understand about putting those wishes in a directive. Keep medical questions for your health-care professional, and keep the choice of a decision-maker separate if you are not ready to address it.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. serves clients virtually throughout California from its sole physical office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945. Nuevo is served virtually; the firm does not have a branch office there. Bring your preparation notes to a consultation and ask about the scope and next steps for discussing your document.