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2002 SESSION
024455712Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 54.1-2970 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 54.1-2970. Medical treatment for certain persons incapable of giving informed consent.
When a delay in treatment might adversely affect recovery, a licensed health
professional or licensed hospital shall not be subject to liability arising out
of a claim based on lack of informed consent or be prohibited from providing
surgical or , medical or dental treatment to an individual who is a patient or
resident of a hospital or facility operated by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse
Services or to a consumer who is receiving case management services from a
community services board or behavioral health authority and who is incapable of
giving informed consent to the treatment by reason of mental illness or mental retardation under the
following conditions:
1. No legally authorized guardian or committee was available to give consent;
2. A reasonable effort is made to advise a parent or other next of kin of the
need for the surgical or , medical or dental treatment;
3. No reasonable objection is raised by or on behalf of the alleged incapacitated person; and
4. Two physicians, or in the case of dental treatment, two dentists or one dentist and one physician, state in writing that they have made a good faith effort to explain the necessary treatment to the individual, and they have probable cause to believe that the individual is incapacitated and unable to consent to the treatment by reason of mental illness or mental retardation and that delay in treatment might adversely affect recovery.
The provisions of this section shall apply only to the treatment of physical injury or illness and not to any treatment for mental, emotional or psychological condition.
Treatment pursuant to this section of an individual's mental, emotional or
psychological condition when the resident individual is unable to make an
informed decision and when no legally authorized guardian or committee is available to provide
consent shall be governed by regulations promulgated by the State Mental Health, Mental Retardation
and Substance Abuse Services Board under § 37.1-84.1 of this Code.