2006 Code of Virginia § 54.1-2989 - Willful destruction, concealment, etc., of declaration or revocation; penalties

54.1-2989. Willful destruction, concealment, etc., of declaration orrevocation; penalties.

Any person who willfully conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or damagesthe advance directive or Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order of another withoutthe declarant's or patient's consent or the consent of the person authorizedto consent for the patient or who falsifies or forges a revocation of theadvance directive or Durable Do Not Resuscitate Order of another, therebycausing life-prolonging procedures to be utilized in contravention of thepreviously expressed intent of the patient or a Durable Do Not ResuscitateOrder shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.

Any person who falsifies or forges the advance directive or Durable Do NotResuscitate Order of another, or willfully conceals or withholds personalknowledge of the revocation of an advance directive or Durable Do NotResuscitate Order, with the intent to cause a withholding or withdrawal oflife-prolonging procedures, contrary to the wishes of the declarant or apatient, and thereby, because of such act, directly causes life-prolongingprocedures to be withheld or withdrawn and death to be hastened, shall beguilty of a Class 2 felony.

(1983, c. 532, 54-325.8:9; 1988, c. 765; 1992, cc. 412, 748, 772; 1998, cc.803, 854; 1999, c. 814.)