Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills in Oak Hill

Compare the instructions with the decision-maker

A written preference and an agent designation address related but distinct concerns: what matters to you in healthcare and who you want to act on your behalf. Consider whether your instructions give the person you name enough context to understand your values, and whether they are consistent with choices you have already recorded elsewhere.

Tennessee’s Advance Directive for Health Care form addresses an agent and alternate as well as healthcare preferences. It also includes instructions about signing and sharing copies. The appropriate choices and completion process depend on your circumstances; avoid assuming that a preference statement alone answers every question about authority or access to information.

Prepare a care-preferences worksheet

Before reviewing documents, write a short, plain-language note for yourself. This is a discussion aid, not a substitute for a directive. It can make it easier to compare what you want communicated with the person you may ask to represent you.

• What matters most to you when considering healthcare, and what would you want a decision-maker to understand about those priorities?
• Who would you trust to communicate your wishes? Is there an alternate you would want considered?
• Which older instructions, healthcare-agent designations or information-access documents should be reviewed together?
• Who should receive a copy or know where the current directive can be found?

Bring documents and identify unresolved questions

Gather the current directive, any earlier advance healthcare instructions, and documents naming a healthcare agent or authorizing access to health information. Note which version you believe is current and flag any differences rather than trying to reconcile them from memory.

A financial power of attorney concerns authority to act on financial matters; it should not be treated as interchangeable with a healthcare agent designation. The scope, duration and limits of a power of attorney matter. Identify each document by its purpose and ask how the documents fit together before relying on an assumed authority.

• Bring the names and contact details of the people you are considering as agent or alternate.
• Mark preferences or designations that have changed, and note when you last reviewed them if known.
• Ask whether the directive, healthcare power of attorney and HIPAA authorization should be coordinated, and what copy-sharing steps are appropriate for your situation.

Coordinate your plan from Oak Hill

Dale Law Group, PLLC offers advance healthcare directives and living wills, healthcare powers of attorney and HIPAA authorizations as part of its Tennessee planning services. The firm’s only office is in Murfreesboro; it does not have an Oak Hill office. A planning discussion can focus on your preferences, proposed agent and the documents you want reviewed together.

For Davidson County matters involving estate administration or conservatorship, the Probate Court clerk’s office provides court information and resources. That is distinct from preparing healthcare instructions, and the appropriate procedure depends on the particular matter. This page does not imply that a probate filing is needed to make an advance healthcare directive.