Advance Health Care Directives in Brooks, Yolo County

Separate your instructions from the decision-maker’s role

An advance health care directive can do two things: express your health-care wishes and identify a person to make health-care decisions. Written instructions communicate your preferences; naming someone identifies who may make decisions for you. Consider each purpose separately rather than assuming that naming a person also explains your wishes, or that a written preference selects someone to act.

A practical starting point is to ask yourself what you want the document to communicate, who you want identified as the health-care decision-maker, and what information that person may need to understand your preferences. These are planning questions, not medical recommendations. If you have questions about particular treatments or medical choices, discuss them with an appropriate health-care professional.

• What health-care wishes do you want recorded?
• Who should be identified to make health-care decisions?
• What context would help that person understand your stated preferences?

Know what the named person is—and is not—being asked to do

The person identified in an advance health care directive has a health-care decision-making role under the directive. That role is different from managing your finances. A financial power of attorney serves a separate financial purpose; naming a health-care decision-maker does not, by itself, give that person financial authority.

Before completing your planning, consider whether you are addressing health-care decisions only or also need to plan for financial matters. If you are unsure which documents may address your goals, that is a question to discuss with a lawyer. The appropriate document depends on the authority you want to address; do not assume that one document covers every kind of decision.

Make the document useful to the people who may need it

Preparing a directive is only part of making your wishes available. Keep the relevant documents accessible and let the people who may need to refer to them know where they can be found. You might prepare a short, private checklist of the document’s location and the person named in it. The checklist is a practical organizational aid, not a substitute for the directive.

California also offers an Advance Health Care Directive Registry. Preparing and keeping a document accessible is distinct from registering information about an executed directive. If you are considering the registry, review the California Secretary of State’s current registry information to understand its role. Registration information should not be confused with the document itself.

• Identify where the directive is kept.
• Consider who may need to locate or refer to it.
• Keep any separate financial-planning documents distinct from health-care instructions.

Plan from Brooks with statewide virtual service

Codi M. Dada Law Office P.C. has one physical office in Novato and provides virtual services throughout California, including to people in Brooks. Brooks is an unincorporated community in Yolo County; that locality is service coverage, not a claim that the firm has a Brooks office.

A useful next step is to make a list of the wishes you want to communicate, the person you are considering for the health-care decision-making role, and any questions about financial authority that may require separate planning. You can then discuss how your goals relate to an advance health care directive and whether another document should address a different responsibility. General information cannot determine which choices are right for your individual medical or legal circumstances.