The advance health care directive California is a legal document that explains how you want medical decisions to be made if you cannot make them. This directive lets your doctors and family know what kind of health care you want.  It also says who you want to make these decisions for you when you are not able to. The directive is a way of helping you plan ahead, to reflect on the type of care you want and importantly, what you do NOT want. It may help guide your doctors and family in following your decisions about your health care when you can’t verbalize them.

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The advance directive does not apply to financial matters or anything outside the scope of health care. LDA Document Services has all the latest forms, as the laws around advance directives are different from state to state. With the help of LDA Document Services, you can create your directive as part of your California estate planning while you are healthy and thinking clearly. Don’t wait until you become too ill or are unable to make medical decisions for yourself.

For all your questions and creating an 'advance health care directive,' in California, get in touch with LDA Document Services.

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The Patient Self-Determination Act and the Advance Health Care Directive California

The 1990 Patient Self-Determination Act (PSDA) encourages people to decide in advance the types and extent of medical care they want, or don’t want, to accept if they become incapacitated.

The PSDA requires hospitals, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, hospice programs, and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) to give patients information on their state laws about their rights to make their own decisions about their medical care; find out if patients have already created and put on file an advance directive; honor the patient’s wishes as expressed through the directive; not to discriminate against patients with or without an advance directive.

While healthcare facilities can’t require patients to have an advance directive, it is clear why they encourage it.  Knowing that your doctors and family will need to follow your desired path may offer peace of mind.

 

Preparing for the unseen with an Advance Health Care Directive California

What happens if you experience a major accident or illness that leaves you unconscious or unable to communicate with others? How do you convey your wishes about your medical care to others?  Preparing an Advance Directive through LDA Document Services is an answer.  You are not required to use an attorney to prepare an advance directive.

An Advance Directive is a general term that refers to various documents that could include a living will, instruction directive, health care proxy, or health care power of attorney. A living will (or instruction directive) alerts medical professionals and your family to the treatments you want to receive or refuse.

You have the right to give instructions about your own health care. You also have the right to name someone else to make health care decisions for you. The Advance Directive lets you do either or both of these things. It also lets you express your wishes regarding the donation of organs and the designation of your primary physician. You may complete or modify all or any part of your wishes.

Using LDA Document Services to plan in advance, you can get the medical care you desire while relieving loved ones of making major medical decisions during moments of grief or crisis. Advance directives may reduce confusion and disagreements about medical care.

At LDA Document Services, we want you to know that advance directives are not only for the elderly. Unexpected end-of-life situations can happen to anyone at any age. It’s important for everyone to prepare an advance directive, with or without an estate attorney.