Give a Copy of Your Medical Directive to Your Doctor.

If you have already prepared an Advance Health Care Directive (also commonly referred to as a medical directive), be sure to give a copy to your doctor(s) for your file.

If you are going to be admitted to the hospital for surgery or any other reason, be sure that your medical directive is on file before completing the admissions process. You do not want to be stuck completing a new medical directive on the spot before undergoing your hospital procedure.  This will override your medical directive that you prepared with your attorney unless it is your intent to revoke your old directive and prepare a new one.

Remember that a copy of your original executed medical directive will be honored as if it were the original.

If you want to prepare a standard Advance Health Care Directive without the assistance of an attorney, click here to go to the California Office of the Attorney General's webpage on Advance Health Care Directives.