Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Hillsborough Residents

Know what the directive is meant to communicate

An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. These are related, but distinct, purposes: written instructions communicate preferences, while identifying a decision-maker addresses who may make decisions. When reviewing a directive, consider whether the written instructions say what you intend them to say and whether the decision-maker information is current.

This page focuses on communicating written preferences, not on choosing a health-care agent. A financial power of attorney serves a different role: it concerns financial decisions, rather than health-care decisions. If you are looking at several documents together, do not assume that a financial document records your care preferences or performs the same function as an advance directive.

Clarify the preferences you want in writing

Before relying on a document, take time to identify what you want it to communicate. You might note which parts of the directive are clear to you and which wording you want to ask about. The practical question is whether the document reflects the wishes you intend to record—not whether someone else can infer those wishes from unrelated paperwork.

As an optional preparation step, make a short list of topics or questions you want to discuss and bring the directive you are reviewing. You can also note whether your preferences have changed since you last considered them. These steps help organize a conversation; they do not provide medical advice or resolve how a particular instruction applies to a medical situation.

• Set aside the directive and any related documents you want to compare.
• Write down questions about wording or about what the document is intended to communicate.
• Keep questions about financial authority separate from questions about health-care instructions.

Make the document findable by the people who may need it

A written directive is more useful to others when the people who may need it know it exists and can locate it. Consider who should know where you keep the document and how that person can access it. A practical conversation can cover the document’s location and whom you have informed, without requiring you to share more than you intend.

Preparing and keeping the relevant documents accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration and access to the document are separate considerations; do not treat one as a substitute for the other. If you are considering registration, clarify what information is being registered and separately plan how the people who may need the directive can find the document itself.

• Choose a place to keep the document and tell the relevant people how to locate it.
• Check that the accessible copy is the one you intend others to consult.
• If considering registration, consider it separately from keeping the document available.

A practical way to review what you have

Start by asking two questions: Does the directive communicate the health-care wishes you want recorded, and can the people who may need it find it? Then check whether any related paperwork serves a different purpose, such as handling financial decisions. If an instruction or a document’s role is unclear, identify that uncertainty as a question to discuss rather than assuming another document fills the gap.

For Hillsborough residents, Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. provides virtual services throughout California from its one in-person office in Novato. A useful next step is to gather the directive you want to discuss, note any questions about its wording or accessibility, and clarify which documents address health care and which address finances.