Yes. California law allows you to plan for the management of your own health care in the event that you lose capacity to make health care decisions for yourself. You can plan for such inability by signing an Advance Health Care Directive. An Advance Health Care Directive is a legal document that allows you to make sure that your health care wishes are carried out if for any reason you lose the ability to make such decisions for yourself.

By signing an Advance Health Care Directive, you appoint another person to be your "health care agent." If you become unable to make medical decisions for yourself (for example, you become disabled by Alzheimer's Disease or you become comatose as a result of illness or accident), your health care agent will have legal authority to make decisions for you about your medical care. You may appoint an alternate health care agent, in the event your first agent cannot act (for example, the person named as your first agent is out-of-town and cannot be reached or otherwise declines to act).

No. The law authorizes you to specify your wishes regarding medical treatment in your Advance Health Care Directive. In making medical care decisions on your behalf, your agent must follow your wishes as set forth in your Advance Health Care Directive. Your health care agents will not have liability for acting as your agents as long as they act in good faith and make decisions that are consistent with the written instructions that you include in your Advance Health Care Directive.

You can specify virtually any preference you have regarding any aspect of your medical care. At a minimum, most individuals specify whether or not they wish to have their life prolonged artificially through the use of machines in the event of terminal illness or a persistent vegetative condition. You may also direct your agent to authorize treatment or withdraw medical treatment in certain circumstances. Many individuals also direct their agents regarding the donation of organs, authorizing an autopsy, and disposing of remains after death. Your doctor, health care providers, and agent must follow your directions as specified in your Advance Health Care Directive.

You can appoint almost any competent adult to be your health care agent. You can choose a family member, friend, or someone else you trust. You should talk to the persons you plan to appoint as your health care agent and alternate health care agent. Make sure your agents understand your wishes and agree to accept responsibility for implementing your wishes.

Yes. The law prohibits you from choosing certain people as your health care agents. You cannot choose your doctor or a person who operates a board and care home or a residential care facility in which you receive care. The law also prohibits you from appointing a person who works for the health facility in which you are being treated and the community care or residential care facility in which you receive care, unless that person is related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption, or is a co-worker.

Yes, but often it is best that you name only one health care agent, rather than two or more to serve as co-agents. If you name two or more co-agents, all of them must agree on each decision on your behalf. If your doctor is given conflicting instructions, she or he may require that the dispute be resolved by the courts. If you name multiple agents who disagree, one of the most important purposes of the Advance Health Care Directive—to identify clearly who has authority to speak for you—will be defeated.

Yes. Tell family, loved ones, health care agents, and doctors that you have executed an Advance Health Care Directive and what you have said in it. You should talk to your agent and doctors about your personal values, specific concerns or wishes you have regarding life support or aggressive interventions, hospice or long-term care, and how you would want to spend the last months of your life. Your Advance Health Care Directive will likely go into effect during a crisis and it can help ease their burden to know that you have made health care decisions in advance. In addition, they should know in advance whom you have named as your agent so they know who can speak for you. Remind your agents that their role is to communicate your health care wishes, and to use your wishes as a guide in their decisions on your behalf.

Keep the original in a safe place where your family and friends can quickly find it. Do not keep your Advance Health Care Directive locked in a safe deposit box where it will be difficult to retrieve in an emergency, especially if you are in the hospital and are the only one with access to the safe deposit box.

A living will is a legal document with a very narrow purpose: it allows you to state whether or not you desire to receive life-sustaining treatment if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. Previously, living wills were referred to in California as "Natural Death Act Declarations." The Advance Health Care Directive is now the legally recognized format for a living will in California. An Advance Health Care Directive allows you to do more than a living will. It allows you to state your health care wishes in any situation in which you are unable to make our own decisions, not just when you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious. In addition, an Advance Health Care Directive allows you to appoint a health care agent to speak for you when you are incapacitated.

All valid Natural Death Act Declarations and all Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care (DPAHC) remain valid. At a minimum, you should review your existing DPAHC or Natural Death Act Declaration to make sure it has not expired and that is still accurately reflects your wishes. Unless your DPAHC has expired, you do not have to complete a new Advance Health Care Directive. Any DPAHC executed before 1992 has automatically expired and should be replaced.