You have the right to provide direction to your family and providers about your future healthcare needs should you become unable to make decisions for yourself. You can submit these directions through written documents called advance directives.

Two advance directives recognized by law are the living will and medical power of attorney.

  • Living wills determine withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging intervention and are voluntary.
  • A medical power of attorney representative is someone age 18 or older appointed by another person to make healthcare decisions according to the provisions of the law.

A living will tells your doctor what treatments you would want if you were dying. A living will also allows you to give specific instructions to your doctor about your healthcare. A medical power of attorney tells your doctor whom you want to make healthcare decisions for you if you could not make them for yourself. If you have not completed a living will or medical power of attorney, WVU Medicine encourages you to consider doing so before or shortly after your admission. Notify your doctor or nurse and they can arrange for you to receive copies of the forms and information necessary to complete them.

All WVU Medicine hospitals recognize a patient’s right to complete a living will and medical power of attorney. It is our policy that hospital personnel respect these documents. Completion of advance directives is voluntary and not a condition for admission or continued stay in our hospitals.

What can you do in an advance directive?
An advance directive allows you to decide who you want to make healthcare decisions for you if you are unable to do so yourself. You can also use it to say what kinds of treatments you do or do not want, especially the treatments often used in a medical emergency or near the end of a person’s life.

Can you change your advance directive?
You can change your advance directive at any time. The most current one will be followed.

What should I do with my advance directive after I sign it?
After your advance directive is signed, witnessed, and notarized, give one copy each to your representative, your successor representative, your physician, and WVU Medicine. Keep the original where it can easily be found.

Notary services
Notary services for living wills and medical power of attorney are available at any WVU Medicine hospital without charge. If you require this service, ask your nurse to contact the social worker.

Role of the Hospital Ethics Committee

WVU Medicine hospitals have ethics committees to help you with difficult decisions and to help resolve conflicts, should they occur, between you and your provider or members of your family.

Ethics committees usually include doctors, nurses, social workers, ethicists, a hospital administrator, and a hospital chaplain. These professionals have expertise in helping to make healthcare decisions and to resolve conflict.

If you would like to speak with the ethics committee, you can ask a member of your healthcare team to contact them.

In the event that a WVU Medicine provider is unable to comply with a patient’s directive, care of the patient will transfer to another provider.

State-specific Information

West Virginia

For more information about West Virginia advance directives, visit the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care.

Maryland

For more information about Maryland advance directives, contact:

Ohio

For more information about Ohio advance directives, visit the Ohio Hospital Association.

Pennsylvania

For more information about Pennsylvania advance directives, contact: