Advance medical directive (living will + healthcare POA)
Your instructions for end-of-life medical care plus your designation of a healthcare agent who can make decisions when you cannot. Virginia combines both into one statutory form.
An advance medical directive () does two jobs in one document: (1) a "living will" component that states what kinds of life-prolonging treatment you do or do not want in specific end-of-life scenarios, and (2) a "healthcare power of attorney" component that appoints an agent to make medical decisions for you when you cannot communicate.
Without both components, decisions fall to default surrogates under state law (usually spouse, then adult children, then parents), which can produce conflict and delay at the worst possible time.
Virginia consolidates both components into a single statutory form under the Health Care Decisions Act (Va. Code § 54.1-2984). The form is designed to be completed without an attorney — you can download it from the Virginia Department of Health, fill it out, and sign before two witnesses who are not the agent you named.
West Virginia keeps them as two separate documents: a "Living Will" and a "Medical Power of Attorney," both with their own statutory forms.
Do one more thing after signing: register your AMD with your state's advance-directive registry (Virginia has one at vdh.virginia.gov; West Virginia does not maintain a state registry but you can use a private one like the US Living Will Registry). Also give a copy to your healthcare agent, primary care physician, and any hospital where you are likely to receive care.
Tagged 🟢 because the statutory forms are genuinely DIY-safe — the failure modes are not executing them at all and not distributing copies, not mistakes in the drafting.
State-specific notes
Federal law (the Patient Self-Determination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395cc(f)) requires every Medicare/Medicaid-participating provider to ask whether you have an advance directive and to record your answer — it does not provide a form or make any directive universally valid. Directives are state-law instruments.
Use the statutory form from § 54.1-2984 or the Virginia Department of Health version. Requires two competent adult witnesses, neither of whom is your appointed agent. No notary required, though notarization doesn't hurt. Register with the Virginia Advance Health Care Directive Registry — it is free and accessible to providers 24/7.
Complete both the Living Will (§ 16-30-4) and the Medical Power of Attorney (§ 16-30-4) forms. Both require two witnesses AND a notary, unlike Virginia. The witnesses cannot be the designated agent, the attending physician, or an employee of the healthcare facility.
Alabama's Natural Death Act at Ala. Code § 22-8A-1 et seq. provides a combined Advance Directive for Health Care at § 22-8A-4 — living will plus healthcare-proxy designation in one statutory form. Execution requires two witnesses who are not the appointed proxy, related to the declarant, or entitled to any portion of the estate. If both a living will and a proxy designation exist, the proxy's decisions take precedence unless the document says otherwise.
References
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