Virginia Code 54.1-2986.1: Duties and authority of agent or person identified in § 54.1-2986.
A. If the declarant appoints an agent in an advance directive, that agent shall have (i) the authority to make health care decisions for the declarant as specified in the advance directive if the declarant is determined to be incapable of making an informed decision and (ii) decision-making priority over any person identified in § 54.1-2986. In no case shall the agent refuse or fail to honor the declarant’s wishes in relation to anatomical gifts or organ, tissue or eye donation. Decisions to restrict visitation of the patient may be made by an agent only if the declarant has expressly included provisions for visitation in his advance directive; such visitation decisions shall be subject to physician orders and policies of the institution to which the declarant is admitted. No person authorized to make decisions for a patient under § 54.1-2986 shall have authority to restrict visitation of the patient, unless such visitation was restricted by a guardian pursuant to the procedures prescribed by § 64.2-2019.1.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 54.1-2986.1
- Advance directive: means (i) a witnessed written document, voluntarily executed by the declarant in accordance with the requirements of § 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 § 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
- Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
- 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
- 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
B. Any agent or person authorized to make health care decisions pursuant to this article shall (i) undertake a good faith effort to ascertain the risks and benefits of, and alternatives to any proposed health care, (ii) make a good faith effort to ascertain the religious values, basic values, and previously expressed preferences of the patient, and (iii) to the extent possible, base his decisions on the beliefs, values, and preferences of the patient, or if they are unknown, on the patient’s best interests.