Advance Health Care Directives in Carrick, Siskiyou County

Decide what you want the document to communicate

An advance health care directive can express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. If you are concentrating on treatment preferences, consider what you want others to understand about your wishes. Separately, consider whether you also want the directive to identify a decision-maker. These are related functions, not interchangeable questions.

This page focuses on communicating preferences, rather than choosing an agent. If you have already decided who should make decisions, you can still consider whether your instructions are clear and whether the document will be available to the people who may need it. If choosing a decision-maker is the unresolved issue, treat that as a separate conversation.

• Write down the preferences you want to discuss, in your own words.
• Note whether you are also considering who may make health-care decisions.

Keep health-care instructions separate from financial authority

A financial power of attorney serves a different role from an advance health care directive. The directive can address health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions; the financial power of attorney concerns financial authority. Do not assume that a document addressing one kind of decision covers the other.

Ask which question is actually unresolved: what health-care preferences should be communicated, who should make health-care decisions, or who has authority over financial matters? That distinction can help you focus a planning discussion and identify whether you are considering one document or different kinds of authority.

• If your concern is treatment preferences, focus on the health-care instructions you want recorded.
• If your concern is financial decision-making, identify that as a separate authority question.

Prepare for a focused planning conversation

Before discussing a directive, make a short list of the preferences you want to communicate and any point you are unsure how to express. Note whether you have already considered the decision-maker question, or whether you want to address it separately. This preparation can help keep the conversation centered on your priorities; it is not an execution or medical instruction.

Also consider who may need to locate the document and where you plan to keep it. California Courts distinguishes preparing and keeping relevant documents accessible from registering information about an executed directive. Registration information is not a substitute for making the document available to people who may need it.

• List the people who may need to know where the directive is kept.
• Identify any uncertainty about your preferences, the decision-maker, or financial authority.

Plan for access and California-wide virtual service

Carrick is an unincorporated community in Siskiyou County, not a separate firm office. Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one physical office at 802 Grant Ave, Novato, CA 94945, and offers virtual services throughout California. A focused next step is to discuss whether your main need is recording treatment preferences, considering a health-care decision-maker, or distinguishing health-care planning from financial authority.

This general information does not determine what medical choices are right for you or resolve an individual legal question. For a planning discussion, bring your list of preferences and any existing documents you want to ask about.