Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in San Diego

Start with the preferences you want in writing

A written directive can communicate health-care wishes to people who may need to refer to them. Begin by considering what you want the document to convey, rather than trying to predict every possible situation. The practical question is whether the words you use make your preferences understandable to someone reading them later.

Keep the focus on communicating your wishes. If a phrase feels broad, private, or open to more than one interpretation, note that before relying on it. Questions about medical options or outcomes are separate from the task of expressing preferences in a document.

• Optionally list the preferences you want to discuss or put into writing.
• Mark phrases that may be unclear to someone who has not heard you explain them.
• Separate questions about wording from questions about medical care.

Distinguish written instructions from the decision-maker

An advance health care directive can both express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. These are related but distinct functions: written instructions communicate preferences, while identifying a person addresses who may make decisions. This page focuses on the instructions and how they can be understood and found; the decision-maker question should be considered separately.

Before relying on a directive, ask yourself two different questions: Does it express the preferences I want others to know? And does it identify a person for health-care decisions if that is what I intend? Treating these as separate questions can make it easier to notice when a document addresses one purpose but not the other.

• Optionally note whether your priority is to communicate preferences, identify a decision-maker, or consider both functions.
• If you already have a document, compare its stated purpose with the question you need it to address.

Make access part of the plan

Preparing a directive and keeping the relevant documents accessible are separate parts of planning. A document may be harder for others to use if the people who may need it do not know it exists or cannot find it. Consider where it is kept, who should know, and how those people could access it.

Registering information about an executed directive is also distinct from preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible. Do not assume that information about a document and access to the document itself answer the same practical question. Consider each separately when deciding how the people involved can locate what they may need.

• Optionally make a list of people who should know where the document is kept.
• Consider whether those people would know how to access the document.
• If considering registration of information, distinguish that from access to the underlying document.

Keep health-care and financial documents distinct

An advance health care directive addresses health-care wishes and can identify someone to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney serves a different role involving financial matters. Do not rely on one document to answer a question that belongs to the other document’s purpose.

A useful review is to identify the concern you are addressing and the document you expect to address it. If the concern is about health-care preferences, consider what the directive communicates. If it is about financial matters, recognize that this is a different role. This distinction helps clarify what you may want to discuss without treating the documents as interchangeable.

Prepare for a focused discussion

If you already have a directive, you can optionally gather it and write down what you want clarified, what should be easier to find, and any wording that seems ambiguous. If you are starting fresh, you can optionally make a list of preferences you want to discuss and questions about how to communicate them. These steps organize the issues; they do not replace medical guidance about care.

A focused next step is to consider both the content of the document and how the people who may need it can access it. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. provides virtual services throughout California. A discussion can begin with the document’s purpose, the preferences you want it to convey, and the practical plan for making it accessible.