Virginia Code 54.1-2983: Procedure for making advance directive; notice to physician
Any adult capable of making an informed decision may, at any time, make a written advance directive to address any or all forms of health care in the event the declarant is later determined to be incapable of making an informed decision. A written advance directive shall be signed by the declarant in the presence of two subscribing witnesses and may (i) specify the health care the declarant does or does not authorize; (ii) appoint an agent to make health care decisions for the declarant; and (iii) specify an anatomical gift, after the declarant’s death, of all of the declarant’s body or an organ, tissue or eye donation pursuant to Article 2 (§ 32.1-291.1 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 32.1. A written advance directive may be submitted to the Advance Health Care Directive Registry, pursuant to Article 9 (§ 54.1-2994 et seq.).
Terms Used In Virginia Code 54.1-2983
- Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
- Advance directive: means (i) a witnessed written document, voluntarily executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Agent: means an adult appointed by the declarant under an advance directive, executed or made in accordance with the provisions of § 54. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Attending physician: means the primary physician who has responsibility for the health care of the patient. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Declarant: means an adult who makes an advance directive, as defined in this article, while capable of making and communicating an informed decision. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
- Health care: means the furnishing of services to any individual for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing human illness, injury or physical disability, including but not limited to, medications; surgery; blood transfusions; chemotherapy; radiation therapy; admission to a hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, or other health care facility; psychiatric or other mental health treatment; and life-prolonging procedures and palliative care. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Incapable of making an informed decision: means the inability of an adult patient, because of mental illness, intellectual disability, or any other mental or physical disorder that precludes communication or impairs judgment, to make an informed decision about providing, continuing, withholding or withdrawing a specific health care treatment or course of treatment because he is unable to understand the nature, extent or probable consequences of the proposed health care decision, or to make a rational evaluation of the risks and benefits of alternatives to that decision. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in the Commonwealth of Virginia or in the jurisdiction where the health care is to be rendered or withheld. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
- Terminal condition: means a condition caused by injury, disease or illness from which, to a reasonable degree of medical probability a patient cannot recover and (i) the patient's death is imminent or (ii) the patient is in a persistent vegetative state. See Virginia Code 54.1-2982
Further, any adult capable of making an informed decision who has been diagnosed by his attending physician as being in a terminal condition may make an oral advance directive (i) directing the specific health care the declarant does or does not authorize in the event the declarant is incapable of making an informed decision, and (ii) appointing an agent to make health care decisions for the declarant under the circumstances stated in the advance directive if the declarant should be determined to be incapable of making an informed decision. An oral advance directive shall be made in the presence of the attending physician and two witnesses.
An advance directive may authorize an agent to take any lawful actions necessary to carry out the declarant’s decisions, including, but not limited to, granting releases of liability to medical providers, releasing medical records, and making decisions regarding who may visit the patient.
It shall be the responsibility of the declarant to provide for notification to his attending physician that an advance directive has been made. If an advance directive has been submitted to the Advance Health Care Directive Registry pursuant to Article 9 (§ 54.1-2994 et seq.), it shall be the responsibility of the declarant to provide his attending physician, legal representative, or other person with the information necessary to access the advance directive. In the event the declarant is comatose, incapacitated or otherwise mentally or physically incapable of communication, any other person may notify the physician of the existence of an advance directive and, if applicable, the fact that it has been submitted to the Advance Health Care Directive Registry. An attending physician who is so notified shall promptly make the advance directive or a copy of the advance directive, if written, or the fact of the advance directive, if oral, a part of the declarant’s medical records.
In the event that any portion of an advance directive is invalid or illegal, such invalidity or illegality shall not affect the remaining provisions of the advance directive.
1983, c. 532, § 54-325.8:3; 1988, c. 765; 1992, cc. 748, 772; 1997, c. 801; 2008, cc. 301, 696; 2009, cc. 211, 268; 2010, c. 16; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 465.