Orinda Health Care
Directives Attorney

Questions to Consider When Preparing Your Health Care Directive

If you are preparing an advance health care directive, the following questions should assist you in making choices for your directive:

• Who do I trust to serve as my health care proxy? Who do I believe will best follow my wishes and instructions or, in the alternative, who would make decisions on my behalf that I would make for myself?
• Will my health care proxy be willing to serve? Will that person be available, physically or telephonically, to make decisions and give instructions?
• When do I want my health care proxy’s authority to go into effect? Do I want my proxy to be authorized to make decisions even when I can still make those decisions for myself?
• Do I want my health care providers to give life-prolonging treatment (such as life support or feeding tubes) or to take other extraordinary efforts to prolong my life if I have an incurable, terminal disease or condition, or if I likely will not wake up from an unconscious state? Do I want to use all reasonable medical treatments to prolong my physical life as long as possible?
• Do I wish to receive hospice care at home or in a medical facility?
• Do I want to receive relief from pain or discomfort, even if that pain treatment hastens my death?
• Am I willing to donate organs, tissues or my body or body parts? Do I wish to impose any conditions on how my donated body parts may be used?
• Who do I want to serve as my primary physician?
• Who should I provide with a copy of my directive? Who should I communicate my instructions and preferences to including possibly my health care agent, my physician, other health care providers and/or other family members?
• Do I want my directive to continue indefinitely until I revoke or replace it, or should I set an expiration date? Will I remember to replace and update my directive if it expires?