Virginia Advance Directives
How ADs are Related to Prior Health Care Decision-Making Tools
In short, prior Virginia laws concerning living wills and health care powers of attorney have been repealed. Statutory powers to write instructions about end-of-life care and appoint a health care power of attorney are now subsumed in the Health Care Decisions Act (Va. Code § 54.1-2981 et seq.).
What is more, revisions to the HCDA in 2009 and 2010 expanded the coverage of ADs to cover all major domains of health care: general medical care, mental health care, and end-of-life care.
Available Forms
The HCDA does not prescribe what form an AD must take (§ 54.1-2984) beyond requiring a few procedural formalities (§54.1-2983).
Many agencies, health systems, and facilities have drafted AD forms. Three representative versions of the form can be found on our “Picking an AD Form” page.
Relevant Statutes
Some highlights of the HCDA (and related statutes) are included here for easy access and review.
Honoring Choices Virginia
honoringchoicesvirginia@ramdocs.org
804-622-8141
Facilitation Training
Comprehensive facilitation of Advance Directives for individuals with mental illness requires knowledge and practices beyond what is typically employed for wills and estate planning. In order to provide the best assistance possible, the facilitator must have a thorough understanding of the nuances that characterize the public mental health service delivery system, crisis response protocol, physician treatment decisions, and capacity determination, among other topics. Because of these intricacies, we recommend that attorneys who are interested in facilitating ADs seek additional training through relevant mechanisms, such as Honoring Choices Virginia.
Pro Bono Opportunities
If you or your firm are interested in receiving training on facilitating ADs and being connected with individuals in your area who need assistance, please contact: