Make your health care wishes known
Create a Virginia health care directive with FindLaw’s attorney-created forms and easy step-by-step process.
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Make your health care wishes known so you stay in control of your treatment with a health care directive. Ensure comprehensive protection for you and your loved ones and secure your future with an estate planning forms package.
Health Care Directive
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Reliable Virginia health care directives
If you are ever suffering from a serious medical condition, you may become unable to communicate your treatment wishes. Your family members may then consent to treatments for you that you would not have wanted. With a health care directive, you can make your own health care choices in advance of medical incapacity. Although this is unpleasant to consider, it may give you peace of mind knowing that you have made selections for yourself on future medical issues. This may even spare your loved ones from strife over conflicting opinions on your treatment.
FindLaw provides everything you need:
How it works
The process takes less than an hour, and you can complete it from the comfort of your home.
Create an account
Create a secure account which is accessible through an easy dashboard you can access any time
Gather information
Decide who will be your health care agent/proxy, which treatments you would request or refuse and release your records
Complete your document
Answer all questions, then we’ll generate your digital documents for downloading, printing, and signing
Make it legal
Print and sign your document according to instructions. Give copies to your doctors and agent/proxy
Plan for your future with confidence
This free guide will help you:
Learn the most common estate planning terms
Understand the essential estate planning tools
Gather critical information with an estate planning checklist
What’s next to make my Virginia health care directive valid?
Follow these steps:
Make decisions on future medical issues
A health care directive is a type of advance medical directive (an “advance directive“). Any competent adult can use a health care directive to make advance decisions on potential future medical treatments. Your doctors will refer to this document if you become unable to give informed consent on your health care options. In Virginia, you can give details on the specific types of medical procedures you would request or refuse under these circumstances.
Further, you should consider your preferences in the event that you are ever diagnosed with a terminal condition. You will need to decide whether you would refuse life-prolonging treatments that only delay the natural dying process. Life-prolonging procedures include treatments such as artificial ventilation (respirators), feeding tubes, and intravenous fluids. If you would prefer not to receive these treatments, you can make this clear through your health care directive.
It can be tempting to avoid this topic, but it’s wise to act early and make these difficult decisions in advance of an incapacitating medical situation. By doing so, you will have expressed your own decisions on your future medical care. You should discuss these choices with your loved ones or a trusted doctor if you have any trouble deciding.
Choose a health care agent
In Virginia, you can choose someone to make health care decisions for you in case you become unable to make them for yourself. This person is typically called a health care agent or a health care proxy. Their duty is to carry out the terms of your health care directive and to advocate for your wishes. If they do not know what your health care choice would have been in any circumstance, they should act in your best interests with your values and preferences in mind.
You do not have to select a health care agent, but you may want to. It can be good to know that there is a trusted person ready to direct your medical care if you become unable to. The legal document you use to designate a health care agent is called a “medical power of attorney” or “health care power of attorney.” However, your health care agent does not have to be an attorney. They should be someone you trust who understands the kinds of care you would consent to.
If you do not limit their authority, your health care agent will be able to:
- Authorize the withdrawal and administration of medical procedures in the event of a terminal condition
- Agree to the provision of medications
- Consent to diagnostic procedures
- Hire and fire medical staff on your behalf
- Access your medical records
- Make decisions on any other medical issues for you
When selecting a health care agent, there are a number of factors to consider. You should choose the person you trust the most with your medical decisions because they will have broad authority over your treatment.
Further, you should choose someone who is capable of being assertive with your family and medical staff to advocate for your health care wishes. Logistical issues such as proximity may factor into your decision too. The person you choose should be capable of being at your side promptly when you need them. Many people choose a close loved one, such as a parent, sibling, spouse, or adult child for this important responsibility.
Sign your health care directive
Under Virginia’s Health Care Decisions Act, you must sign your health care directive in the presence of two adult witnesses. The witnesses must then sign the document.
Distribute your advance directives
After properly signing your advance directives, you need to make sure to distribute them to the right people. Make sure to give a copy to your health care agent so that they understand your medical treatment wishes and can advocate for your decisions.
Next, you need to give copies to your medical providers so that they can carry out your wishes if necessary. It’s also a good idea to provide your close loved ones with your advance directives and place a copy in a secure location they have access to.
Finally, you should consider submitting your advance directives to Virginia’s Advance Health Care Directive Registry. This is a secure online database that you can use to store your advance directives. In the case of emergency, your doctors will be able to request your advance directives from this state-affiliated registry.
Update your advance directives
After you have signed and distributed your advance directives, it’s a good idea to review them from time to time. Generally, you should look over your selections every few years at least. However, certain life situations may pop up that require you to make changes sooner.
For instance, if you have gone through a divorce with your health care agent, you will probably want to name a new trusted person to make medical decisions for you. A change in medical diagnosis or advances in medical technology may cause you to change your mind on certain medical selections in your health care directive.
Whatever the reason, it is your right to change your mind on health care decisions at any time you are capable of doing so.
Virginia health care directive frequently asked questions
No. Living wills and wills have deceptively similar names, but they are very different legal documents.
A last will and testament (a “will”) is the key estate planning document. You can use a will to provide for the distribution of your personal property and real property after your death. If you have minor children, you can name guardians for them through your will too.
A living will, also known as a health care directive, allows you to give instructions to your medical staff on the removal or withholding on medical procedures that you would not want in the event of a terminal condition. You can also use your health care directive to request specific treatments. If you wish to leave anatomical gifts after your death, you can do this through your health care directive too. But you cannot use a health care directive to describe how you would like your property to be distributed after your death.
Both a will and a health care directive can be part of a comprehensive estate plan. Your will covers the distribution of your assets after your death, and your health care directive details your future medical wishes.
Yes. Your out-of-state health care directive is valid under Virginia law if you complied with the laws of the state where you created it, or if it complies with Virginia law.
However, if you just relocated to Virginia, it might be a good time to review your estate plan (including your advance directives). You may wish to name a new health care agent if your move takes you far away from the person you had named before. Further, if you have a new medical team, this could cause you to rethink the selections in your health care directive.
You can create an updated health care directive that’s tailored to Virginia law with FindLaw’s easy process in under an hour.
If you do not choose a health care agent, your medical staff will need to find someone else to consent to health care on your behalf. Under Virginia law, your doctor will then need to reach out to the following individuals, in this order:
- Your guardian (if you have one)
- Your spouse, unless you have filed for divorce
- One of your adult children
- Your parent
- An adult sibling
- Another close relative
If none of the above individuals are available, an adult who has shown special care for you can make health care decisions on your behalf. This person must be familiar with your religious beliefs or other values and your medical wishes. They cannot be the agent, employee, or director of your health care provider. Although this person would be able to make most health care decisions for you, they would not be able to make decisions on the withholding of life-sustaining procedures.
If you would like a person of your choice to make medical decisions for you, you should sign a medical power of attorney form. A medical power of attorney empowers you to name a health care agent and alternate agent that you want. For many people, this is preferable to relying on default state laws.
Yes, your health care providers will treat you for pain and provide you with comfort care no matter what choices you make in your health care directive. If you have any specific wishes for pain management, you can give additional instructions on this in your health care directive. You should discuss this with your health care agent if you choose one.
Yes, your medical professionals have a duty to follow the instructions in your advance directives. Under Virginia’s health care statutes, your health care professionals must make reasonable efforts to transfer you to another physician if they are unwilling to honor the terms of your advance directives.
You have the right to change your mind about your health care decisions. You can do so at any time you are capable of understanding the consequences of your advance directives. You can perform a revocation through several methods under Virginia law:
- Through a signed and dated written revocation
- By physically destroying your health care directive or directing someone to do so on your behalf
- Through an oral expression of revocation
You can revoke parts of your health care directive while leaving others intact if you so choose.
Although you can legally revoke a Virginia health care directive verbally or through physical cancellation, it’s better to put your wishes for care in writing. This gives your doctors and loved ones a record that they can later reference.
With FindLaw, you can create a health care directive that’s tailored to Virginia law and revokes your prior ones in under an hour from any location that’s convenient to you.
When you revoke your health care directive or create a new one, you should inform your health care agent, family members, and doctors immediately. If you stored your advance directives with Virginia’s advance health directive registry, you need to sign and notarize your revocation and submit it to the Virginia Department of Health.
You may want to speak with a lawyer if:
- Your family disagrees with your medical choices
- You don’t know who to appoint as your agent
- You have questions about life prolonging measures
- You want legal review of your completed document