Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills for Corning Residents

Separate your written wishes from choosing a decision-maker

An advance health care directive can serve two related purposes: express your health-care wishes and identify someone to make health-care decisions. Those purposes are connected, but they are not identical. You may want to focus on what you want recorded, who should be identified to act, or both.

For this service, begin with the instructions you want considered. Think about what matters to you when health-care decisions arise and what you would want another person to understand about your wishes. Selecting an appropriate person is a separate part of the planning conversation; it does not replace describing the wishes you want documented.

• What preferences or priorities do you want your written instructions to communicate?
• Are there parts of your wishes that you want to clarify or discuss during the consultation?
• Do you already have a directive, or are you starting without one?

Prepare for a remote consultation

A useful consultation starts with a clear picture of what exists and what you want to accomplish. Before meeting remotely, collect any advance health care directive or other relevant planning document you already have. Make a short list of questions and note any wording or preferences in an existing document that you want to revisit.

You can also write down the main points you want your instructions to convey in your own words. This is preparation for discussion, not a medical recommendation or a substitute for deciding what matters to you. If you are unsure how to express a preference, identify the question rather than feeling you need to resolve it before the consultation.

• Gather existing health-care planning documents, if any.
• Note which instructions you want to keep, clarify, or reconsider.
• List questions about recording your wishes and identifying a decision-maker.

Keep the directive accessible to the people who may need it

Preparing a directive and making its information accessible are distinct tasks. Consider who may need to know where the document is kept and how they could locate it when relevant. A document that cannot readily be found may not communicate your wishes when someone is looking for them.

California also provides a registry for information about an executed advance health care directive. Registry information is a separate consideration from preparing and keeping the document accessible. You can ask about that distinction during the consultation if you are considering how to make the directive easier to locate.

Understand what this document does—and does not do

An advance health care directive concerns health-care wishes and health-care decision-making. It is not the same as a financial power of attorney, which serves a financial role. If you are organizing several planning documents, keep those functions distinct so you can identify which document addresses which concern.

A helpful next step is to bring your existing documents, if any, and the questions you want answered to a remote consultation. The discussion can focus on how to express your health-care wishes and how to keep the resulting information accessible. The firm provides virtual services statewide from its Novato office.