                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PROCEDURE FOR MAKING ADVANCE DIRECTIVE; NOTICE TO PHYSICIAN (§ 54.1-2983)

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&#8217;s death, of all of the declarant&#8217;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 Planning Registry, pursuant to Article 9 (§ 54.1-2994 et seq.).
		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&#8217;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 Planning 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 Planning 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&#8217;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.

HISTORY: 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.