The West Virginia Medical Power of Attorney acquires the necessary legal permissions to effectively direct health care decision-making to an alternate individual. The contract is designed to initiate a written understanding of the selection of who will take over for another in the event that the principal is no longer able to make the important choices on their own. The document provides allocated sections to describe the person who will be granted the controls and a successor should they become incapacitated. Limitations and restrictions on the assumed powers can be fine-tuned to meet the declarant’s needs in the corresponding clauses. The paperwork must be signed and dated in the presence of an appointed notary and two (2) permissible witnesses to be lawfully binding in the state of West Virginia.

Laws

Statute – West Virginia Health Care Decisions Act (W.V.C. § 16-30)

Definition – “Health care decision” means a decision to give, withhold or withdraw informed consent to any type of health care, including, but not limited to, medical and surgical treatments, including life-prolonging interventions, nursing care, hospitalization, treatment in a nursing home or other extended care facility, home health care and the gift or donation of a body organ or tissue (§ 16-30-3(i)).

Signing Requirements – Acknowledgment by a notary official and two (2) accepted witnesses as designated by the West Virginia Code § 16-30-4.

Revocation – § 16-30-18