Advance Health Care Directives and Living Wills in Thousand Oaks

Separate your written wishes from choosing a decision-maker

An advance health care directive can serve two related purposes: expressing health-care wishes and identifying someone to make health-care decisions. These are distinct choices. You may have clear preferences about care but still need to consider who you would want to make decisions if you could not make them yourself.

This page focuses on communicating treatment preferences. If you have not decided whom to identify as a health-care decision-maker, note that as a separate question for the consultation rather than letting it obscure the preferences you want to discuss.

Prepare the information for a remote consultation

A useful starting point is to collect what you already have and make a short list of what you want clarified. This can help keep the conversation focused on your wishes and on how you want them expressed. You do not need to arrive with polished legal language; describe your priorities in your own words.

• Gather any existing advance health care directive or other planning document that you want to discuss.
• Write down the care preferences or concerns you want the document to address, including questions where you are uncertain.
• Note separately whether you have chosen a person to make health-care decisions, or want to discuss that choice.
• Keep a list of questions about how your written wishes and a decision-maker’s role relate to one another.

Describe preferences in terms you can explain

For each preference you want considered, write a plain-language note about what matters to you and what you want a future decision-maker or care team to understand. If your views depend on circumstances, describe the distinction you have in mind and flag it for discussion. A note is preparation for the consultation, not a substitute for the directive.

It is also useful to identify unresolved questions rather than assume a general phrase captures your meaning. For example, if you are unsure how to express a particular preference, bring that uncertainty forward as a question. The purpose is to make your priorities easier to discuss, not to make medical decisions during a legal-planning conversation.

Keep the directive available to the people who may need it

Preparing a directive and keeping the relevant documents accessible are practical parts of planning. Consider who should know where your current document is kept and how it could be located when needed. An inaccessible document may be difficult for the people involved to consult when your wishes matter.

Keeping a document accessible is different from registering information about an executed directive. If you want to ask about registration, raise that as a separate topic; it does not replace preparing and making the relevant document available.

Choose a focused next step

Before the virtual consultation, bring your existing documents, your preference notes, and the questions you want answered. A practical first question is: “What do I want written instructions to communicate, and what do I still need to decide about a health-care decision-maker?” Keeping those topics distinct can make the discussion more useful.

A financial power of attorney serves a different, financial role; it is not the document for expressing health-care wishes. If you have one, you may note it among the documents you want to identify, while keeping the health-care directive discussion centered on treatment preferences and health-care decisions.