Advance Healthcare Directives and Living Wills in Sewanee

Compare written preferences with an agent’s role

A directive can address both who may act as your healthcare agent or alternate and your healthcare preferences. Consider what each part is meant to do: specific written guidance can communicate your values, while an agent designation identifies a person to act within the authority granted by the document. They are related, but they are not interchangeable.

Review older instructions alongside any current agent designation. Ask whether the person you named still reflects your wishes, whether the guidance still sounds like you, and whether the documents leave room for your agent to apply your values to circumstances you did not describe. A healthcare power of attorney and a living will should not be treated as a financial power of attorney, trust, or will; those documents address different roles and matters.

Prepare a one-page care-values note

Before revising documents, write a short note in your own words. It is a conversation aid, not a substitute for the legal directive or clinical advice. Focus on what you want a trusted person to understand rather than trying to predict every medical situation.

• What matters most to me when decisions are difficult is…
• My concerns or questions about care are…
• The people I would want involved in understanding my wishes are…
• If my preferences do not address a situation, I would want my agent to consider…
• The documents or instructions I want reviewed together are…

Gather documents and identify mismatches

Bring your existing advance directive and living-will instructions, healthcare power of attorney, any named alternate, and any related HIPAA authorization you want considered. Note when each document was prepared and whether your chosen agent has changed. Include your care-values note and list the questions you want answered.

Look for differences in names, stated preferences, or assumptions about who may act or receive information. A HIPAA authorization concerns access to health information; it should not be mistaken for the authority to make healthcare decisions. The documents should be considered according to their separate purposes.

Coordinate the next step

Tennessee’s Advance Directive for Health Care form addresses an agent or alternate and healthcare preferences, and includes instructions about signing and sharing copies. The appropriate document and its execution depend on your circumstances; do not rely on an old form or assume that a document prepared for another purpose resolves healthcare decisions.

Dale Law Group, PLLC offers advance healthcare directive and living-will planning, healthcare powers of attorney, and HIPAA authorizations. For clients in Sewanee, in Franklin County, planning is provided by a Tennessee firm with its office in Murfreesboro—not a local Sewanee office. A focused review can help you identify which documents to coordinate and what questions to raise about your preferences and selected agent.