One of the classes I'm taking this semester is "Legal and Ethical Principles to Health Care." It sounds boring, I know, but it's one of my most interesting classes. For an assignment, we had to watch a TED talk BY Alexandra Drane who discussed topics surrounding death and our class had to answer the following questions.

If you're unable to make health care decisions, who would you want to make them for you? What kind of health care would you want or not want? Are you closer to having a discussion about end of life treatment with your friends/family?

Initially, I thought, why would I need to think about this? I'm 19 and pretty much have my whole life ahead of me. Then, it hit me. If something were to happen to me right there in that moments and I was deemed incompetent, meaning I couldn't make medical decisions for myself, my family wouldn't know how long to attempt to prolong my life or what treatments I didn't want. Alexandra Drane mentions how 70% of people wish to die at home, and only 30% do and approximately 2 million Americans die within a year. If I suddenly couldn't make decisions for myself, would my final wishes be granted? But, my own requests on my final days aren't all there are to worry about. If something were to happen to my family, would I know what to do? Would I know what they would want? Absolutely not.

The fact of the matter is, no one wants to discuss death or people's last wishes. Then, it's too late.

With 2 million deaths per year, just in America, one would think a discussion about death would be more common, but it's not don't because it's morbid and ultimately, heartbreaking. I think of how many people I know are unprepared and how many people don't like to talk about death. I mean, no one likes to talk about it, but death is guaranteed the moment you're born.

Make an effort to sit down with the person who you trust the most to be your health care proxy or surrogate, and talk them through what sort of medical treatments would want in certain conditions, or wouldn't want. Make sure everyone close to you is on the same page of what you'd like, that way there is full transparency and your loved ones are on the same page. Keeping everyone up to date on what treatment you'd like important because it helps keep infighting to a minimum and it helps to keep issues out of court.

As for legal issues, create a living will of the course of treatment you'd prefer and submit a durable power of attorney. Your living will document can help to keep you your loved ones on the same page but also keeps your physician informed about your decisions while the power of attorney allows for the person you select to make decisions on your behalf.

The best way to make death more common is to start talking about it. Whether we're ready or not, death is inevitable and no one can escape it. It could happen tomorrow, or 50 years from now, and it is best to be prepared, rather than scramble when the time comes and it's too late. I know I wouldn't want my family and loved ones to disregard my values and beliefs about death or leave them blindsided and confused in a difficult situation, and I wouldn't want to do the same to me. Why would you? It takes bravery to talk about the future, and it takes even more bravery to talk about death.

"Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." — William Shakespeare