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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>75997</law_id><section_number>54.1-2989</section_number><catch_line>Willful destruction, concealment, etc., of declaration or revocation; penalties</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><referred_to_by><reference>54.1-2982</reference></referred_to_by><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="8">Health Care Decisions Act</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="A"><p><span class="prefix-number">A.</span> Any person who willfully (i) conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or <span class="dictionary">damages</span> the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another without the <span class="dictionary">declarant</span>&#x2019;s or patient&#x2019;s consent or the consent of the person authorized to consent for the patient; (ii) falsifies or forges the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another; or (iii) falsifies or forges a <span class="dictionary">revocation</span> of the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another shall be guilty of a Class 1 <span class="dictionary">misdemeanor</span>. If such action causes <span class="dictionary">life-prolonging procedures</span> to be utilized in contravention of the previously expressed <span class="dictionary">intent</span> of the patient or a <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span>, the person committing such action shall be guilty of a Class 6 <span class="dictionary">felony</span>. <a id="paragraph-272814" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2989/#A"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="B"><p><span class="prefix-number">B.</span> Any person who willfully (i) conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or <span class="dictionary">damages</span> the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another without the <span class="dictionary">declarant</span>&#x2019;s or patient&#x2019;s consent or the consent of the person authorized to consent for the patient, (ii) falsifies or forges the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another, (iii) falsifies or forges a <span class="dictionary">revocation</span> of the <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span> of another, or (iv) conceals or withholds personal knowledge of the <span class="dictionary">revocation</span> of an <span class="dictionary">advance directive</span> or <span class="dictionary">Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order</span>, with the <span class="dictionary">intent</span> to cause a withholding or withdrawal of <span class="dictionary">life-prolonging procedures</span>, contrary to the wishes of the <span class="dictionary">declarant</span> or a patient, and thereby, because of such act, directly causes <span class="dictionary">life-prolonging procedures</span> to be withheld or withdrawn and death to be hastened, shall be guilty of a Class 2 <span class="dictionary">felony</span>. <a id="paragraph-272815" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/54.1-2989/#B"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>1983, c. 532, &#xA7; 54-325.8:9; 1988, c. 765; 1992, cc. 412, 748, 772; 1998, cc. 803, 854; 1999, c. 814; 2009, cc. 211, 268.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
