Making medical decisions for a loved one who can’t express their wishes any longer is incredibly difficult. It can cause conflicts among family members with differing opinions about your care and who should decide for you. Specifying your medical care preferences in an advanced health care directive (AHCD) can help your family. It can provide clear guidance to ease their minds.
Creating an AHCD is a crucial part of estate planning. In California, an AHCD combines two vital documents:
- The living will outlines your medical care preferences for temporary incapacitation to end-of-life care. These include decisions regarding life-sustaining treatments, pain management and organ donation.
- The durable medical power of attorney allows you to designate your healthcare proxy and authorize them to decide based on your wishes.
An AHCD isn’t just for people receiving in-home care or treatment for terminal illnesses. Anyone can benefit from preparing for a medical crisis before it strikes.
Steps in creating an AHCD
You can establish an AHCD in five straightforward legal steps:
- Obtain an official AHCD form: Get a copy of the standard form from a reputable source, such as a healthcare provider, a legal organization or the California Attorney General’s website.
- Fill out the form: Provide your personal information, clearly specify your healthcare preferences and name your healthcare proxy in the form.
- Sign or notarize the directive: Sign the dated accomplished form in the presence of either a notary public or two witnesses. Note that your healthcare provider, the operator of your care facility and their representatives are not allowed to be your witnesses.
- Register the directive: You can file your AHCD with the Secretary of State by attaching a copy of the directive to a registration form.
- Share the directive with loved ones and your healthcare provider: Provide copies of your AHCD to your proxy, family and healthcare providers.
- Review and update as needed: You can still make changes to your AHCD to reflect changes in your health situation or the suitability of your proxy.
Planning for comprehensive healthcare management through an AHCD can help you ensure your wishes are respected even if you cannot communicate them. It gives you and your proxy legal security to make tough decisions, even if some loved ones disagree. Relieve them of the emotional burden and be open about your preferences.
To better understand how your AHCD fits into the rest of your estate plan, consulting an estate planning attorney is advisable.