<?xml version="1.0"?>
<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>83134</law_id><section_number>54.1-2970</section_number><catch_line>Medical treatment for certain persons incapable of giving informed consent</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="54.1">Professions and Occupations</unit><unit label="subtitle" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="III">Professions and Occupations Regulated by Boards Within the Department of Health Professions</unit><unit label="chapter" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="29">Medicine and Other Healing Arts</unit><unit label="article" level="4" order_by="1" identifier="6">General Standards of Practice</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>When a delay in treatment might adversely affect recovery, a licensed health professional or licensed hospital shall not be subject to liability arising out of a claim based on lack of informed consent or be prohibited from providing surgical, medical or dental treatment to an individual who is receiving service in a facility operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or who is receiving case management services from a <span class="dictionary">community services</span> <span class="dictionary">board</span> or behavioral health authority and who is incapable of giving informed consent to the treatment by reason of mental illness or intellectual disability under the following conditions:</p></section>
						<section id="1"><p><span class="prefix-number">1.</span> No legally authorized guardian or committee was available to give consent; <a id="paragraph-297907" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2970/#1"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="2"><p><span class="prefix-number">2.</span> A reasonable effort is made to advise a parent or other next of kin of the need for the surgical, medical or dental treatment; <a id="paragraph-297908" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2970/#2"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="3"><p><span class="prefix-number">3.</span> No reasonable objection is raised by or on behalf of the alleged incapacitated person; and <a id="paragraph-297909" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2970/#3"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="4"><p><span class="prefix-number">4.</span> Two physicians, or in the case of dental treatment, two dentists or one dentist and one physician, state in writing that they have made a good faith effort to explain the necessary treatment to the individual, and they have <span class="dictionary">probable cause</span> to believe that the individual is incapacitated and unable to consent to the treatment by reason of mental illness or intellectual disability and that delay in treatment might adversely affect recovery.
			The provisions of this section shall apply only to the treatment of physical injury or illness and not to any treatment for a mental, emotional or psychological condition.
			Treatment pursuant to this section of an individual&#x2019;s mental, emotional or psychological condition when the individual is unable to make an informed decision and when no legally authorized guardian or committee is available to provide consent shall be governed by regulations adopted by the State <span class="dictionary">Board</span> of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services under &#xA7; <a class="law" title="Rights of individuals receiving services" href="/37.2-400/">37.2-400</a>. <a id="paragraph-297910" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2970/#4"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 32-137.01; 1979, c. 212, &#xA7; 54-325.2:1; 1988, c. 765; 1989, c. 591; 1997, c. 801; 2002, c. 80; 2009, cc. 813, 840; 2012, cc. 476, 507.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
