Advanced Health Care Directives in California

In California, you have the legal right to provide instructions about the health care you receive. You are also given the right to name another person to make health care decisions should you be unable to do so. These issues can be taken care of in an Advanced Health Care Directive. The California Attorney General's Office provides a form which can be filled out and executed which formally handles these and other health care issues.

In Part 1 of the form, you name another person and an alternate person to make health care decisions for you should you be unable due to illness, injury, or mental incompetence. This is done through a legal document called a Power of Attorney. If your first choice of named persons is unable to act for you, then the alternate person would do so. In Part 2 of the form, you can give specific instructions about any aspect of health care that you wish to make, such as whether to remain on life support machines in the case of a terminal illness. Your instructions for providing, withholding, or withdrawing medical treatment or intervention are given here.

In Part 3, you include your instructions regarding the donation of organs. In Part 4, you name your Primary Physician whom you wish to be responsible for your health care. Parts 5 and 6 require the necessary feature of signatures and witness signatures which will make your form valid.

Estate Planning Attorney in Santa Rosa, California

An Advanced Health Care Directive is just one tool in the legal arsenal of a California estate planning attorney. Putting together your entire estate plan is a smart idea if you wish your family's financial future, your health care wishes, and your instructions about how your estate should be handled are to be followed. All of these issues can be fully resolved and changed at a future date whenever necessary with the help of Santa Rosa estate planning lawyer Eric S. Gullotta.

Mr. Gullotta is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a degree in taxation; these additional forms of training give you an advantage when it comes to completely handling all of the financial issues that can arise in estate planning. To learn more about the benefits of estate planning and how the Gullotta Law Group can help you, contact the firm for a free, initial consultation.