Advance Directives
This information explains your rights to make health care decisions and how you can plan what should be done when you can't speak for yourself. A federal law requires us to give you this information. We hope this information will help increase your control over your medical treatment.
Who decides about my treatment?
Your doctors will give you information and advice about treatment. You have the right to choose. You can say "Yes" to treatments you want. You can say "No" to any treatment you don't want - even if the treatment might keep you alive longer.
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How do I know what I want?
Your doctor must tell you about your medical condition and about what different treatments can do for you. Many treatments have "side effects." Your doctor must offer you information about serious problems that medical treatment is likely to cause you.
Often, more than one treatment might help you - and people have different ideas about which is best. Your doctor can tell you which treatments are available to you, but your doctor can't choose for you. That choice depends on what is important to you.
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What if I'm too sick to decide?
If you can't make treatment decisions, your doctor will ask your closest available relative or friend to help decide what is best for you. Most of the time, that works. But sometimes everyone doesn't agree about what to do. That's why it is helpful if you say in advance what you want to happen if you can't speak for yourself.
California law lets you name someone to make health care decisions when you can't. This form is called an Advance Health Care Directives.
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Who can fill out an Advance Health Care Directives?
You can if you are 18 years or older and of sound mind. You do not need a lawyer to fill it out.
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Who can I name to make medical treatment decisions when I'm unable to do so?
You can choose an adult relative or friend you trust as your "agent" to speak for you when you're too sick to make your own decisions.
Even though you may have assigned an agent in your Advance Health Care Directives, you may choose a different agent with each hospitalization, if you wish. You will be asked who your agent is with each hospitalization.
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How does this person know what I would want?
After you choose someone, talk to that person about what you want. You can also write down in the Advance Health Care Directives when you would or wouldn't want medical treatment. Talk to your doctor about what you want and give your doctor a copy of the form. Give another copy to the person named as your agent. And take a copy with you when you go into a hospital or other treatment facility.
Sometimes treatment decisions are hard to make and it truly helps your family and your doctors if they know what you want. The Advance Health Care Directives also gives them legal protection when they follow your wishes.
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What if I change my mind?
You can change or revoke the Advance Health Care Directives at any time as long as you can communicate your wishes.
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Do I have to fill out this form?
No, you don't have to fill out this form if you don't want to. You can just talk with your doctors and ask them to write down what you've said in your medical chart. And you can talk with your family. But people will be more clear about your treatment wishes if you write them down. And your wishes are more likely to be followed if you write them down.
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Will I still be treated if I don't fill out this form?
Absolutely. You will still get medical treatment. We just want you to know that, if you become too sick to make decisions, someone else will have to make them for you. Remember that:
Advance Health Care Directives lets you name someone to make treatment decisions for you. That person can make most medical decisions - not just those about life-sustaining treatment - when you can't speak for yourself. Besides naming an agent, you can also use the form to say when you would and wouldn't want particular kinds of treatment.
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How can I get more information about an advance directive?
Ask your doctor, nurse, or social worker to get more information for you.
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Adopted from the California Department of Health Services.
