Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Lodi

Separate your instructions from the decision-maker’s role

A written directive can express your health-care wishes. It can also identify someone to make health-care decisions. If you are preparing or reviewing one, consider these as two separate questions: What preferences do you want recorded, and whom do you want identified to make decisions?

The document’s written instructions communicate your preferences; the person named is identified for decision-making. Naming someone does not make the written instructions and that person’s role interchangeable. Thinking through each part separately can help you notice whether the document reflects both what you want communicated and who you want identified.

For example, you may want to write down preferences and also identify a decision-maker. This is only an illustration of the two functions, not a recommendation about any particular treatment or person. Consider what you want the document to communicate and what role you intend the named person to have.

• Which health-care wishes do you want recorded in writing?
• Who do you want identified to make health-care decisions?
• Are the instructions and the choice of decision-maker both addressed?

Keep health-care authority distinct from financial authority

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and identifying someone to make health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. Naming someone in an advance directive does not, by itself, describe that person’s authority over financial matters.

If you want someone to address financial matters as well, treat that as a separate planning question. Do not assume that a health-care document covers financial decisions, or that a financial power of attorney states your health-care preferences. Keeping the roles distinct helps you identify what each document is intended to address.

• List health-care preferences and decision-making separately from financial matters.
• If both subjects matter to your planning, identify which document is intended to address each one.

Make the document accessible to the people who may need it

Preparing an advance health care directive and keeping the relevant document accessible are separate from registering information about an executed directive. Registration is not a substitute for thinking about who needs to be able to locate the document itself.

As a practical preparation step, consider where you will keep the document and how the person you identify, or others who may need it, will know where to find it. You can also make a short list of people who should know its location. These are organizational questions to consider, not additional legal requirements.

• Decide how the document will be kept accessible.
• Consider who should know where it is kept.
• Keep this access plan distinct from any decision about registering information.

Plan with Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C.

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945, and provides virtual services throughout California, including Lodi. A useful next step is to organize the preferences you want recorded, the person you want identified for health-care decisions, and any questions about how to keep the document accessible. That preparation can focus a conversation on the document’s purpose and the separate roles it addresses.