Advance Health Care Directives in Ballard, Santa Barbara County

Use written instructions to communicate your preferences

A directive can express your health-care wishes. Written preferences give people who may need to refer to the document a way to understand what you have chosen to communicate. They are distinct from identifying someone to make health-care decisions; the document may serve both purposes, but the instructions and the appointment are not the same thing.

Before discussing a document, consider what you want it to convey. You might write down the questions or topics that matter to you, then consider whether the wording communicates your preferences clearly. This is a planning exercise, not a substitute for medical advice about treatment choices. If your questions are medical, discuss them with an appropriate health-care professional.

• List the preferences or concerns you want your written instructions to address.
• Note any questions about how to communicate those preferences clearly.
• Keep decisions about treatment separate from the question of whom to identify as a decision-maker.

Keep the decision-maker question distinct

An advance health care directive can also identify someone to make health-care decisions. That function is separate from recording your own written preferences. If you want information about choosing a health-care decision-maker, treat it as a separate planning question rather than letting it replace attention to the instructions you want the document to communicate.

The role described by a health-care directive concerns health-care decisions. It does not, by itself, establish financial authority. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. If you have questions about managing finances or other financial matters, identify those separately; do not rely on health-care instructions to address them.

• Separate questions about what your instructions say from questions about who may make health-care decisions.
• Raise financial authority as a distinct planning issue if it matters to you.

Make the document findable

Written preferences are more useful when the people who may need them know that the directive exists and can locate it. As a practical preparation step, make a list of people who may need to know where the document is kept. Consider how they could find the current version and whom they could contact to ask for a copy.

Preparing and keeping the document accessible is different from registering information about an executed directive. California’s Secretary of State maintains an Advance Health Care Directive Registry, but registry information does not replace making the document itself available to the people who may need it.

• Decide whom to tell that the directive exists.
• Record where the current document is kept and how a copy could be obtained.
• Treat document access and registry information as separate parts of your planning.

Know what this planning document does not cover

A health-care directive addresses health-care wishes and may identify someone to make health-care decisions. It is not a financial power of attorney, and it should not be treated as a document that settles financial authority. Keeping those purposes distinct can help you identify which questions belong in a discussion about health-care instructions and which require separate planning.

Ballard is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. is based at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, and offers virtual services throughout California; this service coverage does not mean the firm has a Ballard office or establish experience with a particular local court. For a planning conversation, bring the preferences you want to communicate, questions about making the directive accessible, and any separate concerns about financial authority.