CALIFORNIA ADVANCED HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE

No one wants to think the unthinkable. No one wants to imagine that someday he or she might be in the intensive care unit of a hospital unable to speak or communicate. And no one wants to be fearful that at the most vulnerable time in their life that someone else will be making life or death decisions for him or her. California has provided a document that takes that fear away. With the Advanced Health Care Directive, you can make you make your own life or death decisions in advance. There are six “Parts” or sections in the Directive Please note that any statements below in quotations are from the Directive. In Part 1, which is a Power of Attorney for Health Care, you choose someone to be your agent, who will have the power to make certain health care decisions for you if you are unable to. It is up to you how much or how little power you want to give your agent (“My agent shall make health care decisions for me in accordance with this power of attorney for health care, any instructions I give in Part 2 of this form, and my other wishes to the extent known to my agent. To the extent my wishes are unknown, my agent shall make health care decisions for me in accordance with what my agent determines to be in my best interest. In determining my best interest, my agent shall consider my personal values to the extent known to my agent.”). You should make a careful and thoughtful decision as to who you want to be your agent and who you want to be the first alternate agent if your original choice is not available and your second alternate agent if your first alternate agent is not available. It should be someone who knows you well and who you feel you can literally trust your life to. You should discuss this with your attorney. Further, in Part 1, you can state when your agent’s power becomes effective, which can be either be when your primary physician determines you are unable to make your own health care decisions or immediately upon your proper execution of the Directive. You can also grant your agent authority concerning organ donation; autopsies; and burial. In Part 2, you give your instructions for health care concerning “end-of-life decisions.” You can choose under what conditions your health care provider should prolong your life (“I do not want my life to be prolonged if (1) I have an incurable and irreversible condition that will result in my death within a relatively short time, (2) I become unconscious and, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, I will not regain consciousness, or (3) the likely risks and burdens of treatment would outweigh the expected benefit --”) or prolong your life (“I want my life to be prolonged as long as possible within the limits of generally accepted health care standards.”); provide or not provide pain relief (“Except as I state in the following space, I direct that treatment for alleviation of pain or discomfort be provided at all times, even if it hastens my death”}; and any other wishes concerning the above you may have. In Part 3, which is optional, you can give your instructions concerning the possible donation of your organs and for what purposes those organs should be used such as “Transplant,” “Therapy,” “Research,” and “Education.” In Part 4, which is optional, you can designate your primary physician and an alternate primary physician, if the first one is not available. In Part 5, you sign the agreement in front of witnesses, for which there are specific requirements. In Part 6, a “patient advocate or ombudsman as designated by the State Department of Aging” must witness your signature if you are a patient in “a skilled nursing facility, a health care facility that provides the following basic services: skilled nursing care and supportive care for patients whose primary need is for availability of skilled nursing care on an extended basis.” The Advanced Health Care Directive is a truly important document. It provides protection for you when you are unable to protect yourself. As they say, no one knows what tomorrow may bring. The information is this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute nor is it intended to constitute legal advice.