December 7, 2011

Virginia is launching a registry for residents to let friends and families know their health care wishes if they are unable to make their own decisions.

Officials on Wednesday launched the Advance Health Care Directive Registry to securely store important documents on the Internet to protect legal rights and ensure medical wishes are honored.

The registry allows residents to store their advanced health care directive, power of attorney, declaration of anatomical gift and other documents. That will let medical providers, emergency responders, family members, and anyone else they give access honor their desires.

Without advanced planning, most decisions are left to family members. Officials say all of the information will be kept confidential and will only be used by authorized individuals.

The service is free and available at VirginiaRegistry.org.