馃攳
California Advanced Health Care Directives - The Law Offices of Andy I. Chen - YouTube
Channel: unknown
[23]
Hi everybody! It's Andy and welcome to my
[26]
office in Los Altos, California. I'm an
[28]
attorney licensed to practice law in
[29]
California as well as New York. In this
[32]
video I'm going to go over California
[34]
Advanced Healthcare Directives. Now if
[36]
you're like most people, you probably
[37]
have no idea what an Advanced Healthcare
[40]
Directive is so I'll explain the idea to
[43]
you like this. So a while ago I put out a
[46]
video that goes over Powers of Attorney.
[47]
I'll go ahead and link that video right
[49]
over here in case you haven't seen it
[51]
already, but that video obviously, I guess,
[54]
goes over the California Powers of
[56]
Attorney, but if you take the idea of a
[58]
power of attorney just kind of generally
[60]
kind of, you know, in the abstract, the
[62]
basic idea is that a power of attorney
[64]
is a document that you sign that gives
[67]
decision-making authority that you
[68]
normally would exercise over yourself
[71]
and gives that authority to somebody else
[73]
for some reason. A common reason why you
[75]
might do would be let's say that
[77]
you're getting older and you find that
[80]
you're getting more forgetful so to make
[82]
sure that all your bills are paid on
[83]
time, that, you know, you don't get in to
[85]
trouble with the IRS, for example, you
[87]
might give decision-making authority
[89]
over finances -- called a Financial Power
[92]
of Attorney -- to somebody else to make
[94]
sure that, you know, you don't run in to
[96]
trouble financially. That idea of giving
[100]
over authority from you to somebody else
[102]
or, I guess, phrase alternatively the idea
[105]
of receiving authority from somebody
[108]
else to act on their behalf, that idea in
[111]
California applies in two contexts: (1)
[113]
there's the financial context where, you
[116]
know, you might have decision-making
[117]
authority over somebody's bank account,
[120]
over somebody's retirement account, over
[122]
their business, over, you know, real estate
[125]
that they own, things like that, and (2) it
[128]
also applies to health. So the thing is, you
[130]
know, let's say that it's something where,
[132]
you know, you're going in to a hospital
[133]
for surgery and the hospital wants to
[136]
know 'Okay what do we do, who do you want
[137]
to speak for you, who do you want us to take
[140]
decision, like directions, I guess, from in
[143]
the event that you're in a coma, in the
[145]
event that you, you know, can't be, you
[149]
know, woken up, I guess, like you know if
[150]
you're permanently vegetative, who do you
[152]
want us to take instructions from.
[155]
Speaking of that actually, the most
[158]
common situation, I think, that most
[159]
normal people will kind of encounter
[161]
this will be if you go into the hospital
[163]
for surgery of some kind. Every hospital
[166]
that I've ever kind of dealt with, if you
[168]
go into hospital at all, they will want a
[170]
advanced healthcare directive to
[172]
basically prepare themselves if, you know,
[175]
something bad happens and you die, you
[176]
become comatose, etc. So regardless of the
[181]
situation in which you encounter it, the
[183]
terminology used - Power of Attorney for
[185]
Healthcare, Advanced Healthcare
[187]
Directive - I've also heard it called a
[189]
Living Will - not sure if that's an
[191]
antiquated term now - but Living Will,
[193]
Advanced Healthcare Directive, Power of
[195]
Attorney for Healthcare, regardless of
[197]
what you call it, the authorizing law in
[200]
California is the same. So it's
[202]
California Probate Code section 4670
[206]
which, as always, I will go ahead and
[208]
paste and link down below in the
[210]
description for you. 4670 authorizes
[214]
the idea of a document that you can sign
[217]
that gives decision-making authority
[219]
over your health to somebody else. What
[222]
kind of health decisions can this
[225]
document cover? That's going to be in
[227]
California Probate Code section 4671(b),
[231]
which I will also paste and link down
[234]
below, but if you read 4671(b), it's
[237]
very general. It basically says decisions
[239]
related to "personal care" whatever that,
[242]
you know, means in a particular situation,
[244]
can be delegated. 4671(b) also includes a
[248]
non-inclusive list, for example, you know,
[251]
where the person will live - the person
[254]
who gives the authority, I mean, the
[255]
principal - where the principal will live,
[257]
what kind of recreation the principal,
[260]
you know, will engage in, what kind of
[263]
food the principal wants to eat, things
[265]
like that. A better kind of way to look
[268]
at this, I think, which is also related to
[270]
a common question is, what, you know, is
[273]
their sample, I guess, like 'What kind of
[275]
stuff can I put in a power of attorney
[277]
for health care? Is there a sample that I
[279]
can basically look at? And the answer to
[282]
that question about the sample, that is,
[284]
can be answered yes in two ways. So the
[287]
first way to answer the
[289]
question yes, basically, is the Veterans
[291]
Administration in the United States, the
[293]
VA, they put out a template form that
[296]
they use if you go into their hospitals.
[298]
And if you want to look that up yourself
[300]
that's VA form 10-0137, which I'll write
[305]
over here as well as paste and link down
[308]
below for you. It's a PDF you can go
[310]
ahead and download the VA
[312]
template form for free. You can use it as
[314]
a guide. So if you read over that section
[317]
it goes over a lot of stuff about like,
[320]
you know, organ donation. I think,
[323]
if I remember correctly, it allows
[324]
you to specify what you want donated,
[326]
what purposes, you know, you want, you know,
[329]
your organs donated for. What else? It
[332]
goes over, you know, care that you want to
[335]
get if you end up in a vegetative state.
[337]
It goes over what kind of pain
[339]
management care you want. So it's much
[342]
more, kind of, real world useful, I guess,
[345]
than something where it's like 'Okay well,
[347]
you know, personal care decisions can be
[348]
delegated.' Nobody knows what that means.
[350]
The VA sample, the VA template rather, is
[353]
actually much more useful in the real
[356]
world, I think. So, if the VA form is not
[359]
useful for you for whatever reason, the
[362]
California Probate Code actually has a
[363]
sample Advanced Healthcare Directive in
[366]
it and that's California Probate Code
[368]
section 4701 which, as always, over here
[372]
and pasted and linked down below. So if the
[375]
VA template doesn't work for you, you
[377]
can't find another, you know, template or
[379]
sample that is to your liking, go ahead
[382]
and take a look at the statutory one in
[383]
4701 and, you know, if you print it out
[386]
and look at it and kind of format it, etc.,
[389]
cross things out, you know, add things, etc.,
[391]
hopefully you can get a version that is,
[394]
you know, useful for you. So, I guess, the
[398]
take aways for this video. Number one is
[399]
that an Advanced Healthcare Directive
[401]
is basically a power of attorney for
[403]
health care. You can determine what, you
[407]
know, decision-making authority you
[408]
want to give to somebody else in the
[410]
event that you cannot care for yourself
[411]
in terms of health, well-being, etc. If
[416]
you want samples which, I think samples,
[418]
you know, are probably going to be
[419]
the most useful real
[421]
world things for the average person, the
[424]
Veterans Administration in the United
[426]
States has a really great template
[428]
sample, I guess, that you can go ahead and
[430]
look at. Modify it if you want, you
[433]
know, use it as is if you want. California
[436]
Probate Code section 4701 also has a
[438]
fantastic, you know, sample, I guess, that
[441]
you can use. So hopefully all that made
[444]
sense. Go ahead and like this
[446]
video. Share, comment, subscribe all that
[448]
nice stuff and I will talk to you guys
[450]
next time. Thanks
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage