Every adult (young and old) should have an Advance Directive. Younger adults actually have more at stake, because if stricken by serious disease or accident, medical technology may keep them alive for decades. Young adults should at least have a proxy decision-maker.

Both fall under the umbrella of Health Care Advance Directives. A living will instructs health care providers to withhold or withdraw medical treatment under certain circumstances. In most states, this only applies in the case of a terminal illness or near-death situation in which the patient will die shortly without medical intervention. Living will do not allow for a surrogate to make decisions for you. Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care (or Health Care Proxy) is a document in which you appoint someone else to make all medical treatment decisions for you if you can’t make them for yourself. The person you name is called your agent, proxy, representative or surrogate. You can also include instructions for decision-making.