§16-30-9 Medical power of attorney representative and health care surrogate decision-making standards. - West Virginia Statutes

§16-30-9. Medical power of attorney representative and health care surrogate decision-making standards.
(a) General standards.

The medical power of attorney representative or the health care surrogate shall make health care decisions:

(1) In accordance with the person's wishes, including religious and moral beliefs; or

(2) In accordance with the person's best interests if these wishes are not reasonably known and cannot with reasonable diligence be ascertained; and

(3) Which reflect the values of the person, including the person's religious and moral beliefs, to the extent they are reasonably known or can with reasonable diligence be ascertained.

(b) Assessment of best interests.

An assessment of the person's best interests shall include consideration of the person's medical condition, prognosis, the dignity and uniqueness of every person, the possibility and extent of preserving the person's life, the possibility of preserving, improving or restoring the person's functioning, the possibility of relieving the person's suffering, the balance of the burdens to the benefits of the proposed treatment or intervention and such other concerns and values as a reasonable individual in the person's circumstances would wish to consider.