I should have known it was going to happen. Six people, one small car, reckless driving and, of course, no seatbelts. The car crash came so fast that I didn’t even have time to process what was going on. I thought I was going to die at any moment, that these were my last few seconds of consciousness before everything was going to go blank. After the car came to a stop, it took me a while to realize that I was still alive, that my body and mind were intact.

I came away from that event with a newfound appreciation for the fragility of life and the speed at which it can be taken away. Yet death wouldn’t have even been the worst outcome of that crash. What really scares me is the idea that, although still alive, I could experience a drastic decrease in the quality of life. I imagine myself, turned vegetable, sitting in a bed for 30 years, silently screaming in agony as my friends and family misinterpret my reflexive smiles and babbles as signs of contentment.

This isn’t some theoretical exercise — every day, thousands of people, from college students to grandparents, find themselves in medical limbo. Whether they’ve become comatose from a car accident or suffered severe brain damage from a stroke, they have to endure a significant reduction in their quality of life.

Most people do not explicitly state on paper what kind of health treatments they want in the event that they lose the mental capability to decide for themselves. Thus others, such as next of kin, make decisions for them, and sometimes these decisions are not what the injured person would have wanted. Many conflicts arise when family members decide to prolong a loved one’s life when that person would have wanted to peacefully pass away, given the option. In other cases, one section of the family wants to let a person go while another faction wants to continue aggressive treatment. (The Terry Schiavo case was a prime example of this.) And in California, there is no legal hierarchy for naming the decision-maker.

You can do a service to yourself and your family by getting an Advance Directive. This is a type of will that designates your healthcare wishes in the event that you can’t make them yourself, and it also lets you choose “agents” who will carry out your dying wishes. It enables you and your loved ones to make good, rational decisions in the calm of the present moment.

Although I am biased towards ending a miserable existence sooner rather than later, an Advance Directive by no means hastens your death. It merely states, very explicitly, what kind of health treatments you do or do not want to receive.

Many people hold off on these conversations and decisions until a situation demands it, but this is like figuring out a fire escape plan as a fire burns around you.

If you are interested in getting an Advance Directive, there are resources on hand to help you navigate the process. I consulted and got my own Advance Directive from Betsy Carpenter, the contact for Advance Directives at Stanford and at El Camino Hospital. Many of us have grandparents or even parents that may be faced with strategic health choices soon, and it is of utmost importance to make these health decisions now. You can be in control in a crisis.

Email Ziv at dirtycalstudent "at" gmail.com.