Suffer a sudden, acute illness and find yourself hospitalized. Any of these could end your life. Or, they could leave you mentally or physically incapacitated. If not, perhaps it's time to consider some sort of advance directive so you can control your own health care even if you can no longer express your wishes. Contrary to what you might think, living wills and other advance health care directives aren't only for the elderly.
Disaster can hit anyone at any age.
Not only will you assure yourself that your health care wishes will be followed, you will take some of the burden off family members who might be left to make those health care decisions for you. Actually, when we speak of living wills, we're speaking of a two-pronged approach to making our health care wishes known called advance directives. Preparing a living will is one part of a comprehensive advance directive plan. The other is preparing a durable power of attorney for health care. Together, these two documents can give you peace of mind regarding your health care wishes for the future and are an important part of your estate planning.