Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Santa Cruz

Start with the decision this document should support

Before focusing on wording, consider the practical question: what would you want people involved in your care to understand if you could not communicate your wishes? An advance health care directive can express health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. It can therefore address both your preferences and decision-making authority, but those are not the same choice.

If your main concern is communicating treatment preferences, focus first on what you want stated. If your main concern is selecting a person to make decisions, give that choice separate attention. You do not need to treat a written preference as a substitute for carefully considering who may be asked to make health-care decisions.

• Consider which preferences you want written down and communicated.
• Separately consider who you would want to make health-care decisions.
• Think about how the people who may need the document could find it.

Know what this document does—and does not do

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and health-care decisions. A financial power of attorney serves a different financial role. If you are trying to address both health-care planning and financial authority, identify them as separate planning needs rather than assuming that one document handles both.

A written directive can communicate preferences, but the practical value of those instructions depends in part on whether the relevant people can access the document when it is needed. Preparing the document and keeping it accessible are distinct from registering information about an executed directive. Registration is a separate option to consider; it is not a replacement for preparing and making the document available.

• Keep health-care directions distinct from financial decision-making authority.
• Consider who should know where your directive is kept.
• Treat registration as separate from preparing and sharing the document.

Prepare by clarifying your priorities

You can make a planning conversation more focused by writing down, in your own words, the preferences you want considered and any questions about how to express them. You may also note who should be able to locate the document. These are preparation suggestions, not legal formalities or guarantees that a document will be found or followed.

As an example, someone may want to document care preferences while still deciding whom to name as a decision-maker. Keeping those questions separate can help that person identify what remains unresolved, rather than letting an early choice about one issue stand in for both.

Plan for access as well as content

A document that cannot be located may be difficult for others to use when they need to understand your preferences. Consider which trusted people should know where it is kept and how the information could be reached. If you are considering registry information, understand that registering information about an executed directive is separate from preparing and keeping the document accessible.

The appropriate next step is to identify whether your priority is documenting treatment preferences, choosing a health-care decision-maker, or addressing both. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one in-person office in Novato and provides virtual services statewide, including for people in Santa Cruz.